


Spiders Domain

by Dejers



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Giant Spiders, NaNoWriMo, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-06
Updated: 2013-12-09
Packaged: 2017-12-31 15:46:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 24,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1033468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dejers/pseuds/Dejers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set a thousand years in the future in a world where humans have been offset from their power by the rapid evolution of spiders into the distinct subspecies; Felics, Cognit, And Brutes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Felics

Chapter 1 - The Felics

They ran through the dim lighting, and stale air of the older residential quarters. Eyes bugging from exertion, but huge grins on their faces they Stampeded down the hallways. Crossing a set of dusty pressure plates, the walls ahead of them slid apart. They relaxed to a jog as fresh air filled their lungs, and clear sunlight beat down on their faces, they ran down from the residential quarters into a green tree-filled area.

"I'll beat you to the engines!" The first one called out, His sandy blonde hair floating over his Hazel eyes and a grin dominating his face. The second one grunted between breaths as he struggled to close the distance between them.

The first one turned abruptly and cutting around the side of a hill disappeared into a clear door built flush with the stone surface. The second one cursed loudly as he spun around the corner and fell to the ground as he mimicked the first one. He rolled over onto his back and breathed heavily as the first one ran back towards him, and offered his hand to help him up.

Wearily, He reached up and took the proffered hand.  
“You would be enjoying a stop in at the afterlife if Mom had heard that, Charlie!” The first one said laughing.  
“Not like you are so perfect...” He replied as his breathing stabilized and he stood up. They turned and walked through the clear door into the building.

-

“Andrew, Have you completely lost your mind?” Charlie Exclaimed as he stared across the pit in front of them.  
“It's the only one way to get down, All the other entrances are blocked off.” He replied shrugging his shoulders and stretching his arms out.  
“If it is the only way in, How are we going to get out?” Charlie Demanded as Andrew backed away from the hole.  
“There are lots of ways out, Just one way in.” He stopped near the back wall and cocked his head, “Hear that?” He asked, a concerned look crossing his face.  
“What?”  
“The call of adventure.” He cried as he ran and jumped into the dark pit.  
Charlie groaned, “Adventure... Why do you hate me?” Then he turned around and shut his eyes, before stepping off backwards.

They fell through a long shaft passing through the many echelons of the engines, parts actually extending into the shaft. Punctuating the long fall were flashes of redstone and the incessant swishing of pistons. The two continued to fall down to the depths of the shaft.

The lights illuminated below them and Andrew could just make out the bottom of the shaft. He braced himself as he screamed up towards Charlie.  
“Ground!” He didn't wait for a response as he braced himself for the impact. He flashed red as he smashed into the ground and rolled into the murky water in front of him. He lay under the water savoring its cool feeling on the soon to be bruises along his shins. He pulled himself up and sat on the side of the pool and waited as high pitched screams echoed above him.

A gunshot crack slammed through the air as Charlie hit the water and sent waves sloshing over the edges.

A myriad of bubbles breached the surface of the small pool, before Charlie himself emerged with a dazed look on his face. He looked around seemingly disoriented before he found Andrew sitting on the side with a sheepish grin on his face. Charlie groaned as Andrew rolled backwards from the pool and ran from the sparsely lit oasis, into a flashing, writhing, jungle of redstone machinery. Slowly, Charlie clambered to his feet and grudgingly followed him into the jungle.

-

“You'll Never catch me!” Andrew screamed as he jumped up and swung himself onto the top of a row of pistons. He laughed as he dashed through a small gap, chased by an ascending row of pistons. Charlie stopped and looked on disbelievingly as the piston heads smashed into the ceiling before revealing a gap. As the pistons dropped again, he dashed forward.

Andrew glanced back and snickered as he caught a glimpse of Charlie momentarily hanging from his pinned shirt. Charlie dropped off the side of the piston, and fell to the floor. With a sigh he stood up and brushed off his knees before looking towards Andrew. Andrew grinned and motioned towards a small opening close to the ground, Charlie watched as Andrew pulled himself into the small area and quickly disappeared.

He squirmed into a small opening. He squinted as his body filled the hole blocking off the light. “Can't be far!” He crawled onwards into a dank tunnel. His breathing grew labored and the temperature seemed to drop. He shivered as he drug himself further down, behind him he could hear Charlie panting as well.

Finally he felt a warm breeze cast over his frigid skin. He reached forward blindly with his arms and caught the edges of an entrance he pulled himself out with a gasp, and rolled over feeling warm air wash over him. A couple of minutes later Charlie breached the exit.  
“I thought this was a set of ventilation shafts!” He gasped.  
“That's what Dad's blueprints showed, We should be in a backup storeroom.” Andrew replied.

“They Are Ventilation shafts” a creaky voice tittered through the air. Both of them jumped and moved over trying to find the source of the voice. “It is for our City... You are the first Humans to venture this far.” It paused, “You can not see.” It stated, “Easily rectified.” Andrew jumped as he felt a pinch on his hand. He then fell to the floor screaming in pain.

Dimly he could hear another voice coalescing with his screaming at an unnatural volume. His throat grew raw but he couldn't stop screaming, his eyes were flooded with Bright light. Finally his eyes adjusted and he stopped screaming, he blinked and sat up, above him and beyond him was a city of sorts.

It stretched in all directions and seemed more organic than solid, in fact parts of the tethers seemed to move and writhe. He gasped as he made out one of the tethers detaching from the rest and crawling down. It was a Spider. He screamed and turned to run, He stopped when he found that the entrance was completely blocked by a group of spiders.

His hand throbbed and he collapsed to the ground. “He is still adjusting to the venom,” He heard as he fell into the increasing blackness.

-

His eyes unsquinted, releasing a thin milky fluid that dripped to the floor. Did he hear a scream? Shaking himself he squinted his eyes and listened. A sharp, staccato scream echoed, before falling completely silent.

He stretched his leftmost eyes to discern the lighting in the main chamber, and raising himself up from his thick nest he turned his body and raised it to peer over the edge of his nest. He glanced down and saw the elders gathered near an air shaft. On the ground near them lay two humans, They seemed to be sleeping.

His curiosity satisfied, he leaned back into the nest. He would ask Nestmother about it later. Slowly he squinted his eyes and nodded off to sleep as the film flooded over his eyes.


	2. Contact

Chapter 2 – Contact

He was Choking, Drowning, Dying! He bolted up off the cool bedding below him and opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out. He looked around and saw nothing but darkness.  
”He is Awake.” A voice rattled through his head.  
“He is faring well, in comparison.” He winced as another voice grated along his eardrums. “open your eyes, little one.” The thought confused him, His eyes weren't open? He felt his muscles one by one.

He clenched his fingers and curled his toes, Bent his arms and stretched his legs. He tightened his breathing and rolled his head. He curved his lips, and finally tugged at his eyelids, he found them unyielding like a ton of bricks. He pulled up as hard as he could until finally a small glimmer of light shot in.

He gasped and dropped the effort as he tried to make sense of the faint picture he had caught.  
“Mom!” He cried, but he received no response. The only sounds were a faint chattering coming... From all around him. He tensed as he pulled his eyes open again, and reeled backwards in shock as they slammed open.

His world exploded into light, and he spent a moment trying to decipher everything. He was in a brightly lit room, but the walls seemed to be made of a dark thread. He was surrounded by vague shadows, and he took little notice of them until one of them moved. It seemed to be misshapen, possessing a multitude of legs and three distinct portions of body.

“What are you?” He asked as it came into the light and the mandibles on the front of its face became prominent.  
“I am a Felic.” A voice echoed from around the room. “We apologize for your discomfort, Some people are more discomfited by our venom then others. Your brother in particular.”  
“My Brother? Whats wrong with my brother!”  
“I apologize, I have misspoken, Your brother is fine. He was just incapacitated by a reaction to our venom. He is currently recuperating at about the same level you are.”  
He glanced around the room and discerned a spherical shape to it. “Where is he?”  
“Near us, but he is asleep. We, you and I, must talk. And we must be quick as it will determine your fate.”  
“My fate?”  
“Yes, if you cooperate you will be returned to your family unharmed. If not, Then the safety of our colony is at risk and you will never return to your family if indeed you live through the day.”

He sat back and surveyed the room again, “What do you want?”  
“Your word that you won't intentionally reveal our presence here to the rest of your colony, and that you will return.?  
“Return?”  
“We need to understand the human psyche. You and your brother will be an integral part of our research.”  
“Let me see my brother and we have a deal.” The Felic waved one of its many appendages at the wall, and the walls faded into transparency.

He gulped as he looked down into a brightly lit city that wrapped around itself and stretched taught before relaxing into a looser shape.  
“Where are we?” He asked in a whisper.  
“You have already seen this city, albeit from another angle.” A second voice spoke from the shadows  
His mind returned to when he had entered the room.  
“But it looks so differ-... After you bit me, I saw this!” He looked back at the shadows and looked intently at the shadows. After a second, the darkness dissipated and revealed 3 other Arachne resting within them on their back appendages. He screamed and moved back,  
“What have you done to me?” He screamed at the spiders.  
“Without this, You would be dead. The rest of our colony would have smashed your bones to dust between Iron mandibles.” The third one stated as it reared its torso from its earlier relaxed position into a sort of barbaric salute.

It turned towards the invisible wall and motioned towards a small darker orb, contrasting the bright city as it swung delicately suspended by threads. It seemingly floated up 'till it had reached the same level as them, and a window cleared in the side of it, giving view to the inside of the sphere.

Inside lay a deathly pale Charlie, his black hair had turned to a bleached grey, and remained fallow on his head. “What did you do to him?” He whispered, horrified.  
“We filled him with a light version of our concentrated venom. He seemed to be exceptionally weak, unlike you he will be affected by this his entire life. Though, without it his life would have been extremely short.”

–

His mandibles clenched in hunger pangs as he watched the others feed from the Nest mothers Catch, A bouquet of rats lined with savory slime. He always had to ask about everything hadn't he? He turned from the atrophying meal, and descended down to where the humans had lain. He laughed a silky laugh as he reached the spot. The elders had changed them, altered them into stronger hardier beasts.

If they left then they would have greater control of their body and mind then any other over-world species save the felic. His mandibles clenched together in anguish as another smell floated through the air. While it did not bear the customary smells of raw flesh its aroma still woke his hunger.

He brought his torso up and tasted the air for the smell. His eyes squinted in pleasure as the aroma drifted past him once more. He dropped close to the ground and crawled to up the side of a wall before disappearing through an open vent.

–

“He was going to die?” Andrew asked bewildered.  
“Yes, he was in the long-term stage of a disease humans refer to as SD12 or Advanced Spawn Degradation. One more death, and he would have been maxed out. Now, he has a different registry and his Spawning is safe.” The Quieter Spider finished before retreating once more with a bow to the other two.  
“OK, How long have you 'Felics' set up residence here?”  
The leader spoke up, “With the permission of your Government? Since this ship was decommissioned and retrofitted into a settlement globe.”  
“And my father knows of this?”  
“We have his consent, as well as periodic checks.”

He glanced once more at Charlie's disfigured body, and turned back to the three spiders. “You said you wanted to explore the human psyche.” He said, and received nods from the threee. “Then my only request would be to learn in part how you build things like these orbs.” Another set of nods and Charlie's pod solidified into a darker color and floated away from them as they descended into the bright city.

–

He followed the smell through the vent, mandibles dripping with saliva as the scent grew stronger. He tensed as he noticed light ahead of him, but the smell overwhelmed him. He quickly ascended through another vent and cautiously peered down into the lit area. Below him was a feast, A high table covered in succulent meats.

He pulled himself back from the vent as steps resounded beneath him. A blonde colored head appeared below him and made off with one of the plates. By her stance and demeanor, He gleaned that she probably wasn't supposed to be there.

So on her heels, he dropped down into the small area and made off with 3 plates. He hoisted himself and the plates back into the vent and devoured the food. He sighed in pleasure as his mandibles wrenched the cooked flesh from the chicken bones. Why didn't they eat like this? Why didn't they always eat like this!

Finally he finished guzzling the plates contents and not knowing what else to do with them lowered back down into the room and left the plates there littered with bones. He moved to head back to the colony, but then wondered what the bones themselves must taste like after being saturated in the Delicious flesh.

He scuttled back and looked down into the room. Loud voices proclaimed themselves and he stared in a mite of confusion. The blonde girl had returned and was holding her half eaten plate. While two other, bigger humans seemingly blamed her for eating the other three plates. He soon got bored of this interaction and waited for them to move away from the table.

Finally the girl slumped and walked towards the door with tears in her eyes and the other humans followed. Squeaking in victory, he noted the girls plate had remained at the table. Quickly he dropped into the area and snatched her leftovers off her plate and the bones he wanted from the others before retreating back up to the vents once more.

As he scuttled back through the vents, He heard loud proclamations of disbelief echoing behind him. He snickered as he returned to the colony, feast in hand.

–

He laughed in wonder as he watched the small planes fly acrobatics around each other, and around the strange off architecture of this colony. Two spiders sat side by side in silent repose, their torso's raised, and their eyes... Not closed but seemingly smaller, he turned to his guide  
“We squint our eyes, releasing a gelatinous compound that places an unbreakable seal over our eyes. Allowing us to sleep, or stand extremely bright areas.” He replied, two of his eyes roving over him as the rest watched the planes.”  
“Unbreakable?” He asked as the planes flew towards each other right up to the moment when it looked like they would crash, before one of them veered away at high speeds. Clanking resounded from one of the spiders as it gnashed its teeth together. A strange tittering echoed from the other.  
“Yes, We have acid that we secrete when we stretch our eyes. It dissolves the compound while the compound itself renders the acid to a harmless liquid.”  
“Wow, sounds complicated.” he responded, fixated on the planes slowly descending to the ground. “So, Who won?” He asked.  
“It wasn't a contest. It was a training exercise between master and pupil.”  
“Training? For what?”  
“We run reconnaissance around the globe, and we use our ships to ferry messages.”  
“Can I learn to fly one of these?” He said, crouching down to examine one of the two ships on the floor.  
“If you were still a human then I would have to reply no. But you are altered so you may be able to control one. This however must wait for another time.” Another Felic approached,  
“Sires, The altered boy has been cosmetically rendered to his unaltered state.” It glanced at his guide for a second. “The boy's father requests their presence.”  
“Very well,” It turned towards him. “Andrew, When you return I will teach you to fly one of these to the best of my ability.”

-

He crunched the last of the bone between his mandibles and savored the last of the flavor. He sat back and watched the human talking with the Nest father. It spoke with no dignifying tones, and lost no stature when the Nest father spoke.

He continued to watch in disgust as the Nest father lowered himself to speak in their language. Perhaps the Nest mother was right, Maybe they were taking this alliance too far. He turned his torso and passed another bone to his mandibles, He crunched delightedly as he listened to his Age brothers mowed through the last of the flesh behind him.

They would make the difference. One meal at a time.


	3. Ambush!

Chapter 3 - Ambush

He clambered from the ground and grimaced as he patted his worn shins. He pulled his arms out to the side, The first lessons with the Nest Father had been interesting to say the least. But the progress in actually getting the planes to fly was mediocre. He stood back up and resumed running at a slower pace.

He had been grounded after he had gotten back, For looks sake, Because he had gotten Charlie sick. Charlie had finally recovered and his eternal groundation had been lifted. He continued on through the shady forest and breathed in deep as a ray of sun smashed through the leaves and half-blinded him.

He was supposed to go in for another lesson later today, but for now he had free time. A dark form passed through the trees in front of him and he skidded to a stop. He focused on the shadows and made out a Arachne form huddling beside a trunk.

Slowly, He crept up around the tree and confronted the Felic.  
“Why are you here?” He sent as he noted that the Mandibles weren't fully formed. It fell back in Surprise.  
“Human? You speak Spider. Nest Father builds upon his empire of heresy and deceit.” It cackled in loud staccato burst and shot off into the forest. He jumped forward and chased behind the little creature.  
“Nest child!” He sent as he heard more bursts echo from around him in reply.”Nest child, What have you done!” The area around them bristled as multiple forms faded into being as he banished the shadows.  
“Do Not Call Me Nest child! My name is Achilles and you will die for speaking our sacred tongue!” The group jeered as it edged closer from the tree line.  
“Die Filthy Human!” “Die Die Die”

He spun and shuddered as the world, exploded into sound and the spiders rushed cheering a one word Mantra. “ACHILLES!”

HE pulled back and jumped over the backs of the lesser line. His eyes Closed and face set in concentration. He pulled up above the spiders and cleared them by a 3 feet at least. He opened his eyes when he didn't land on the ground and barely ducked into a roll as he approached the top of the tree.

He jumped from the roll onto the next layer of leaves and screamed as he slipped off the leaves and rolled on the ground. He caught his leg on a rock and screamed as he felt a crack and warm fluid stream down his leg.

Determined, he placed his leg down and bit down on his lip. His eyes lit up in pain and tears puddled as he ran at top speed from the edge of the forest. Behind him he heard rapid scurrying and felt several barks of orders from the Nest child Achilles.

He turned halfway down and caught sight of a group of engineers walking through the farms talking and laughing. “RUN!” He screamed wildly. They looked up in annoyance but their faces quickly turned to terror as they caught sight of the Horde of spiders behind him.

They turned and ran with not another thought to him. He spun trying to lead the spiders off track but only a few followed him. The rest stampeded onwards towards the residential areas. He heard Achilles scream in fury behind him.  
“Come back!”

But the spider horde ignored him and continued on and disappeared into the distance. The fire in his eyes began to die and tears filled his eyes as he neared the spot. He flipped the switch on the side of the log and dropped down into the hole that had opened up in the ground.

He fell and screamed as he fell. The spiders crowded above the hole blocking the entrance from the others as they attempted to fit themselves into the hole. He fell down for what seemed like an eternity before he hit into a wide pool of water.

HE Screamed as he ran from the pool, Leaving a long trail of blood behind him. “Help!” He screamed, His voice breaking. Instantly A spider melted from the shadows and approached him.  
“Are you okay?” IT asked with a worried tone.  
“Its not me, Nest child Achilles led an army to ambush me. He is following and his horde is attacking my people.” Three more spiders melted from the wall as splashes came from the pool. The leader himself and War leader slid through the wall.  
“Attacking the humans?” The War leader roared. “Achilles? What have you done!” He cried in anguish. The leader turned,  
“Your Nest child-”  
“Is dead to me!”  
“As is the law.” The other spiders intoned as more splashes resounded from the pool and forms ran up the hallway. The leader Reached out,  
“Come Andrew, The War children will handle this.”

He hefted Andrew when he noticed his leg.  
“I am fine,” He murmured.  
“Sleep.” he commanded as his Mandibles reached out and ripped through his skin. “Sleep.”

-

He finally forced himself through the small hole and fell towards the light at the bottom. Then a spray of blood spread backwards through the pool and Arachne body parts fell amongst their own life blood. He spread his legs out and gripped at the wall. He watched as more of his Age mates were slaughtered and the bronze light shone off the mandibles of the Warrior children.

He grunted as one of his Age mates fell on him. “Climb up!” He hissed. “The Warrior children are on the prowl.” His Age mates eyes grew and he looked down at the bloodstained water before scrambling up the wall.

He glanced down again and caught sight of the water being sucked up and the stone below becoming clear. The message was clear, They would be offered as sacrifice, dead or alive. He scurried up behind his Age mate.

When he finally breached the surface he found less then a quarter of his original group.  
“Either we take the humans! Or we die by the Warrior children's mandibles!”


	4. War

Chapter 4 - War.

He opened his eyes just enough to see out and waited for the Health child to turn away. When she finally did he rolled off the bed and ran from the small area. His eyes shot open and he gasped in agony. He slammed out of the spiders globe and found himself in unfamiliar territory.

Turning in confusion he looked around the room. They had moved the colony, Now they were somewhere completely different. He walked forward and jumped as something touched his shoulders. He flipped around and found himself face to face with the Health child.  
“Human child You should rest.” It said as it examined his leg.  
“My friends are being attacked, By your Nest children.” He paused as he looked into two of the Health childs eyes. “I need to be there to help them.”  
“Your Nest group is in trouble?” She asked, “You must help your Nest group.” She turned away and started off. “My Name is Ruby, I will take you to your Nest group.”  
“Thank you Ruby, I am indebted.” She stopped suddenly, Before turning to face him,  
“No!” She spat through her Mandibles. “My Nest child starts this, I help to end it.”

They walked through a dark corridor and turned off into a brighter room. He shivered as a breeze passed over his leg. He looked at Ruby questioningly, when she stopped in the middle of the room.  
“Patience Human child, just wait.” She turned back the way they had come and hissed a word he didn't know. Instantly the floor began to shake, and the ground sighed a little portion of the ground growing up.

He widened his stance and held out his hands for balance as the platform ascended into the air. The ceiling above them opened up casting a small ray of light down onto the platform. He gaped in astonishment as they came right below a pool of water.  
“This is right below the main fountain!” Ruby looked over and seemed bemused as she watched him admire the placement of the elevator.  
“Help your Nest group.”

-

His small group crashed through one side of the wheat farms, and crashed out the other side into a maelstrom of blood and screams. His small group held up makeshift wooden swords and charged into battle mowing down several of the rebellious army.  
“Nest rebels! Come to me!” He yelled out. The fighting humans fell back into the residential buildings during the quick respite.  
“Nest rebels, We are here to face death. If we return to our Nest, then our Nest groups will mow us down themselves, or they will hand us to the blood thirsty Warrior children.” Several of his group unburdened their backs of the makeshift swords and tossed them out into the mob of writhing spiders.

They turned in unison and marched on the residential areas. The doors opened and Achilles blanked as he saw the flash of TNT. “DUCK!” The first row dropped to the ground as the TNT missiles rocketed over them and smashed into the second row. The screams echoed over the blast and the humans slid the doors shut to block out the blast.

The rows of spiders flew up, flashing red and screaming as they died. He felt the blast waves wash over him and watched as it blew the wheat from its plots. He turned back and screamed in defiance.  
“Attack while they repair their cannons!” He singled out a group of his favored Age mates with his mandibles, “Go around and smash through the windows!”

The small group scuttled away as the rest of the army stormed the front of the residential complex once more. The doors didn't pop open, instead the spiders at the front were bathed in lava. They screamed as they ran away rolling in their comrades blood, and searching for water. 

Windows smashed and arrows flew from the darkened building, bestowing curses on the spiders. One that had finally doused the flames on his body by rolling on the bloody ground, combusted into flames once more. Another fell as green drops exploded from the arrow embedded in his skin and seared into his flesh.

Still more fell just from the normal arrows, an enormity of which were flooding the air. A few spiders had evaded the archers and the lava, and were now beating down the glass doors. As they finally smashed through the glass, Iron doors slammed shut, relieving several appendages from the spiders. 

Finally the out poor of arrows slowed, and the iron doors eased open. Two cut and bloodied spiders remained of the original seven of the group.  
“They are hiding in iron safe rooms.” the first one coughed out in obvious pain. The second leaned against the wall.  
“We can't get to them, they have the ability to blow this globe sky high from in there. They use some sort of wireless tech, so we can't even cut their power.” Achilles waded through the dead bodies and raised his torso in a salute to the two spiders.  
“You have done well, Nest rebels.” He turned back and faced the surviving army. “We have failed. Our deaths are assured.” He lifted his front appendages skyward, “Look around us.” The group looked around and fell closer together as they found a large army of Warrior children had surrounded them.

“Tally Deaths!” The War leader called out as he breached the front line. After a moment a group of the warrior children stepped forward and began scouring the bodies. They noted positions, and numerated them as they walked through the field of corpses.

-

He shook himself off as he climbed out of the pool and glanced back down into its murky depths. Shaking his head he walked away, and started jogging towards the residential center. He ran up the path and threaded through the farms. He turned a corner and found the ground covered in wheat and dirt. He blinked in surprise as his eyes traveled upwards following the path of destruction.

His eyes widened in shock as he caught sight of the Warrior children scouring blood and corpse laden ground in front of the residential area. He blanked as one of the Warrior children glanced up and pegged him.  
“Human watcher!” It shrilled to the others. Andrew dropped to his knees and waved his hands over his head.  
“Human friend! Know Nest leader! Human friend!” He felt the spiders probing at his mind and he dropped his gates. “Human friend.”  
“Human friend,” one of them murmured. “War leader! Human friend!”  
The familiar large spider walked over and raised his torso till he was looking him in the eyes.  
“So far we have found no human remains. Humans incumbent warlike nature prevailed in this fight. Only the Nest rebels died.”

The large spider dropped his torso and turned away. A slightly luminescent patch of liquid falling from its face. “Noone died?”  
A Warrior child turned towards him.  
“All of the Nest rebels died.” Andrew nodded and ran down towards the Residential area.

-

Achilles rolled his head and gasped as his ducts freed up and dropped hissing acid down over his eyes. He blinked and looked around. The remainder of his army was bound with unbreakable solvent around him. He turned around and rolled his head forward as his ducts freed up again. The acid dropped down onto his bounds and dissolved his bonds.

He looked around in disbelief. Had it been that easy? He rolled to the lower edge of his body and clutched at the ground as he righted himself. None of his army stirred. He crept across the floor picking his path around his dormant army. 

He forced his way through the side wall and blindly made his way towards his bent. After several moments, he slid into the warm and dimly lit vent. Along the side of the room there were several gliders. He breathed out as the gliders lifted up into the air and flew around the room. He chuckled as one flew down and grabbed a leftover bone. It flew up and dropped it on his head. 

Light lit the room outside and he dropped backwards, the gliders moving ahead of him. He heard human voices echoing as the room got brighter. A shout of exclamation echoed as they moved closer.  
“We found them! They’re sleeping!” Angry screams echoed out and the clash of metal on carapace cracked into the air. 

He ran out into the open, his gliders lighting up the air ahead of him. A human looked over from the butcher and called out.  
“Hey, ones awake!” A group ran out and chased after him. His glider angled towards a wall that he remembered being thin and the first one flashed white before it blew a hole in the wall. He jumped out the hole and fell for a couple of seconds before the gliders caught his appendages and lowered him down towards the ground.

After what seemed like an eternity his gliders set him down on a soft patch of grass. Then tucked up around his front appendages. He unsquinted his eyes and watched as a group of spiders faded into view and surrounded him. They picked him up and he faded into the darkness as they carried him away.


	5. Lessons

Chapter 5 - Lessons

 

He shivered as he looked down over the edge of the Globe. The metal walls curving off far below him. He shivered and looked around the lookout position. Since the attack, defenses had been set up around the globe. Everything from solo gliders circling the globe, watching for any groups of spiders trying to enter, to lookouts stationed around the edges of the globe to watch for any large groups of Cognit forces.

 

He shivered and looked through the spyglass again. The vast world had mostly recovered from man’s prohibitive reign, now reclaiming the quarry lands and smashing through the cities. The Cognits seemed to do little messing with the status quo, staying well within the safety of their cities.

 

Sometimes he thought he saw large beasts rippling the leaves as the passed under the leafy forest roofs. For the next week he was stationed up her from dawn ‘till lunch. Then he was free to do anything else. He had had several more lessons down in the Felics new home.

 

And he had found that their were a myriad of ways to get down there. He had to be more careful though, as their were now patrols running through the belly of the globe. Most of the Felic’s Passageways were completely outside of the humans knowledge, But they had found one or two already.

 

He glanced up at the sun and cricked his neck. His replacement should be getting here anytime. He looked down at the world through the spyglass and watched as the leaves continued to ripple as if large beasts traversed beneath them.

 

-

 

He felt the pleasant side to side rocking, and his ducts flooded releasing his eyes from the grip of the irritant solvent. He turned around in confusion as he found that he was lying on a large black beast. He shivered and slowly brought himself to his feet.

“Child! Lie down!” An unfamiliar voice cried out. “You will spook the brute!” Obediently he returned to a resting position, glancing around he saw several other spiders. But he felt none of them. He probed towards them and a couple of them shifted uneasily, but none reciprocated his approach.

 

He drew back as he felt a huge presence fill his mind. ‘Young one? You are not Cognit! From whence you come?’ Startled he returned the only answer he had.

‘The sky!’

‘You fell from the heavens?’

“No, I flew.” He sent imagery of the gliders carrying him down to safety.

“You must be careful, The Cognit like none apart from themselves.” It intoned.

“You mean you don’t carry us of your own free will?”

“I carry you because if I don’t then my corpse will be cast into a part of the quarry land to serve as a new patch of ground for plants and trees. Survival is key young one. The Cognit believe themselves supreme, But you have secrets they cannot imagine!”

“I do?”

“Yes and for survival, remember that me and my kind work for survival as well, do not show us pity, for your sake and ours.”

 

A Cognit slowly crept over to Him, “Child, You act as if you have not ridden on a brute before?”

“Careful” The brute whispered into his mind before withdrawing.

“I just have Never woken on one.” He said with a breeze as he pressed at the Cognit to leave him be.

 

The Cognit reared back, “We will be approaching the city of Vengeance soon. You slept long, now you will live in our small but grand city.”

 

He leaned back as the Cognit slunk back to the other side and watched as the trees thinned. This world had nothing on him. He would overtake them all, then he would smash any and all who would dare get in the way of his revenge.

 

-

 

A thin form finally appeared on the edge of the globe and headed towards him. He stood up from his post and stretched. The form slowly drifted along the metallic surface of the globe. Finally he could make out who it was. “Charlie? Thought you were off work duty?” The form shook his head as he drew closer.

“Fred fell off of the globe. He just respawned and has to take a while to recover.”

“Fred fell off, served him right. Just couldn’t stop goofing off near the edge.” He stretched again and yawned. “Tell me if you see any more of those land-whales.” He said as he walked away. “I was following three or four of them.”

 

Charlie nodded in assent, and turned towards the spyglass. He shook his head as he walked over to the side of the globe and peered down. The ground was hundreds of blocks down, but he had always wondered what the globe looked like from below. He would have to catch up with Fred and ask him about the view.

 

He turned and headed towards the woods instead of the residential complex. It was his free time so he would be going to fly one of those gliders finally. He wandered through the woods then dropped down into a pool of water. He swam down, took hold of a switch, yanked it upwards. Then disappeared into the small doorway that appeared.

 

He shook himself off as he descended a ladder down into the bowl of the globe. The felics had apparently relocated themselves to the older engines. They kept them well maintained, so no one would head down into the engines to fix them. He shivered as a gust of air swept past his mind. The Warrior children now kept careful tabs on the whereabouts of their people.

 

He broadcasted that he was a friend, They took little heed of him and he continued on his way.

 

He walked down the last of the stairs and walked through the wall. The city loomed in front of him, large and phosphorent. He walked through the midst of the city and soon arrived at a large fountain. Nest Leader sat in front of the fountain and a large glider circled around him.

 

Flinching at the familiar presence tapping into his mind, he sat cross-legged in front of Nest leader. He closed his eyes and reached out to locate the glider on the floor near them. After a moment it linked to him and he saw from its viewpoint.

 

It raised from the floor and spun in a tight circle for a moment, before a loud crash echoed through his mind and he found himself staring into Nest leader’s eyes.

“Better,” He broadcasted. “Much better. Soon you will be able to fly one of these by yourself.”

 

He stood up shakily, and held onto his legs. “I think I am going to puke.” The Nest father’s presence fell from his mind, and his equilibrium returned.

“You need practice away from here,” One of the Nest fathers appendages reached out and passed a small bug-like object into his hand. “This is a children's toy, It can walk, fly and travel for 5 consecutive hours before it has to recharge itself. Use this in your time above.”

 

He turned around and held the bug up to the light. He felt for it for a second and linked to it, its wings flared up and it took a couple of tentative steps forward. He bounced back to his body and felt the bug on his hand.

 

He looked up at the Nest father, “Thanks.” He followed as the Nest father began to walk further into the city. “Would flying with this be safe?”

“After you manage to understand the way the wings work, yes. The gliders will be playthings for simple flight when you have finished learning to control the bug.”

 

He linked with the bug again and felt as he moved the wings from the body.He stepped forward and tottered on the edge of his hand for a moment then turned around and crawled up his arm.


	6. Death And Loss

Chapter 6 - Death and Loss.

 

He crawled through the house. His eyes part of him yet not. He flapped his wings and shot up into the air. He circled through their portion of the complex and laughed as he passed over Charlie’s sleeping form. He dropped down exilerated and landed on Charie’s nose. 

 

He bounced away as A hand rocketed up and smashed into his nose. He laughed as he continued on through the complex. He picked up a few voices from his parents side. The first voice echoing through the area was clear.  
“Have you lost your mind? Why would I allow a group of bloodthirsty Arachne to invade our globe! Let alone Put them on here myself!” Conflicted, He strayed a bit closer. His father wouldn’t want him to hear or see this, But on the other hand, How would he know? 

 

The second voice was unfamiliar but was rich with anger and betrayal.  
“We found papers with you authorizing transport of exotic ‘Animals’ to be transported to our globe.”  
“And are you not thankful that we have a herd of Mooshrooms residing here now? Or would you prefer going without a constant supply of soup?”  
“six Mooshrooms came over when the barge carried enough room for sixty.”  
“Some Died on their way over.” He turned around the last corner into his fathers office. He was standing behind his desk conversing with a heavyset man with a dark expression on his face.  
“You won’t get away with treason. I won’t let you.” The heavyset man pulled a sword and moved to hit his father. He panicked and flew at top speed into the man’s face. The bug emitting a sharp whine as it taxed its flight parameters. Small appendeges at the ready he cut into the mans face and burrowed through the mans eyeball into his skull. 

 

He emerged on the other side and watched his father stare at the now dead man. His father reached down towards his stomach and took his hands away covered in blood. “They ripped my spawn core out.” He whispered. Then fell to the ground. He flew up into the wall and zapped back to reality to find himself running and screaming towards his father’s office. 

 

Lights flashed on behind hima dn people followed all arriving to find the corpse of their leader lying on the ground, and the face of his assilant ripped to shreds. He fell to his knees in front of his fathers body.  
“Its okay, he’ll be back soon!” someone said. But He merely pointed at a small pearl lying oon the floor in front of his body.  
“They ripped his spawn core out. He isn’t coming back.”

 

-

 

Achilles walked into the academy, and laughed to himself as the crowds seperated, deferring to him. It had taken less then a week to gain mastery over the entire school. The instructors worshipped the ground he walked on, while the students writhed in fear under his gaze.

 

He excelled in all of his subjects. not through deceit but through him truely studying the material. He wished he could correct some of the assumption the Cognits had adopted from the humans about the world, But he didn’t want to gain too much attention yet.

 

He continued on to his first classroom and sat in a nice chair, and relaxed as the instructor began his lecture. 

 

“Time after time, We must return to the thoughts of our past.” “We must look back to find the path that led us to the here and now.” “Our species has advanced more in the last hundred years then the humans have in the last thousand.” “How do we explain this?” “Our best guess is that through some outside intervention, Something either benevolently changed us to be able to rise over our human oppressors, or that that something was malovent and raised us up to strike the humans down.” “If the first globe had not destroyed the city of Gaol, we would be in a steady peace with the humans.” “We have conversed with the humans through diplomatic talks, and they no understanding for how or why their globe crashed.” “In fact they report that they have had no other crashes since that first, and they have other globes from that era still flying without a problem.” “The best we can deduce is that the something that changed us into what we are, also provoked us to war.” “Thoroughly eliminating the idea of the peaceful benevolent creature.” “The humans believe in a deity called ‘Notch’ Who created our world and the first human.” “But the humans also have a sub culture that believes in a deity called ‘Jeb’ that took over from the great ‘Notch’ Who supposedly continued working on our world and fixing it. Supposedly to this day.” “Something altered us from what we were into what we are.” “It is safe to assume that the same force that altered us is also driving us to war with what could be our greatest allies.” 

 

A low tone sounded through the hall and the Cognit stood and dispersed as the instructor called out. “We will continue this discussion next week, have a good day.”  
he strode up to the instructor, hoping to get a word in but the instructor dashed from the room.

 

He squinted his eyes confused at the instructors behavior. He thought back to his mindset as he too walked from the room, just slightly behind the mass of departing Cognit. He had been intently focused on the lecture, he hadn’t even been focused on his customary feel for deference.

 

He looked up and saw the instructor conversing with a group of darker carapaced Cognit. He noted into the instructors mind and felt apprehensiveness and anxiety. He’s probably being investigated for his teaching. He thought and walked away towards the center of Vengeance. His adoptive family were having lunch in one of the skydomes, He loved the height, though contrary to most Cognits feeling of height.

 

-

 

Andrew was still lying in the floor beside the spot where his father had died, when they came for him. His body was gone, but he thought he could still feel him, lingering on after death. 

 

They sliced through the room and took Andrew from where he was lying. He started to scream but the calm presence of the Nest father flooded his mind and he quieted. Seemingly moments later, they stopped and he found himself placed on a large glider. 

 

He looked confusedly around but received no answers to the questions that floated through his mind. They strapped him to the glider and pushed it off the side of the globe. An apology echoed through his mind as the Nest father left him and he drifted down through the endless night.


	7. Survival

Chapter 7 - Survival

He cracked his eyes open and found himself staring at the clear blue sky. He looked around examining the glider around him. It was made of hard steel, his eyes smarted as he repositioned himself and the sun blasted into his eyes. He turned away and brought himself to his feet.

He clambered over the side of the glider and found himself surrounded by a herd of Mooshrooms cavorting over the purplish mycelium. Looking further, he found a large tree. It stood further away, Just over the line of the Mycelium. 

He raised his hand, and tapped the wood. Unlike the Special blocks of the globe, it showed a small crack in it. He smashed through it and quickly smashed the rest of the tree to the ground, retrieving two apples and a sapling.

He chewed on the apple as he formed the basic shape of a crafting table. He formed the wood and waited as the wood bonded together in a flash of light. He picked it up from the ground and looked at it in a sort of wonder.

He held it out and dropped it to the ground. A small pop echoed, and the crafting table grew to a much larger size. Once again amazed at the transformation, he knelt down and felt the sides of the table.

He reached out towards the table and let out a breath as his body and the things in his pockets flashed into being behind his eyes. He felt his mind tense as he moved two blocks of wood into the shape of a rod.

He blinked to avoid the flash and looked back from the table to find four sticks in his hand.

He quickly crafted the sticks and wood into the basic survival implements; Sword, Pick, a and Axe. His apprehensiveness faded as he turned away from the crafting table and found himself face to face with a large spider. He stood there for a minute and looked at it.

It looked amazingly like a Felic, and the barely coherent growl of words that echoed from its mouth to were reminiscent of them.  
“Human, Now you die.” It hissed.  
“Why?” He returned, instinctually supplementing with a small blast of thought. It stopped and looked curiously at him.  
“You Speak?” It stepped backwards. He jumped over the crafting table behind him, and backed onto the mycelium.  
“Yes.” It came up to the mycelium and hissed for a second before rearing back and spitting a green steaming liquid from between its mandibles.

Yelling in surprise, he threw himself to the side. His arm burned and he smelled singed flesh. Gasping, he pulled himself further back into the mycelium biome. The spider stepped forward eyes wide in anticipation, but a couple of steps onto the mycelium it faltered. 

His eyes flooded with fluids, and green fluid gushed from its mouth. It tripped and stumbled another foot before dropping to the ground and screeching as the fluidhardened around him holding him to the ground and the green fluid smoked as it ate at his skin. 

His eyes gushed again with fuid and the screech shifted to a lower tone as smoke issued from his eyes. After a long minute its screams dropped to a lower state and became silent. 

He gazed at the smoking remains of the corpse for a moment before standing up and clutching his arm to his body as he slowly walked over to his crafting table. He grabbed his fallen sticks before picking up the table and walking into the mycelium biome.

-

He finally descended from the skydome and slowly made his way through the darkened city. Ge approached his residence and let himself relax. Tomorrow he would finish twisting the minds of his fellow students. 

With their brainpower focusing on a central goal he would be almost unstoppable. He turned up the last path and walked up to the door of the house. He slid through the streamers and squinted his eyes at the harsh, pervasive lights that bombarded him. 

He unsquinted his eyes after a minute and made out a couple of familiar shapes. The first two he discerned were his foster parents here. The other two were the problem, they were the uptight officers that had been lurking around the school watching a few of his teachers.

Incredulity drifted through his mind. He hadn’t seen them talking to teachers not associated with him. He backed away from the group before running as fast as his legs would carry him. He stopped suddenly, suspended in mid air by two large mandibles. 

They squeezed on his shell before carrying him back to the house. He looked down and saw appreciative expressions on the faces of the two cognits. He turned his body and found himself staring into the face of a large brute, He spat in disgust as it lowered itself down and the two officers climbed onto it.

It rose carrying him high into the air. With slow long strides it carried him off through the city. 

-

He dragged the glider over the edge of the moat and dropped it on the ground.

He winced as his arm was pulled down by the craft. He turned and walked into his makeshift wooden hut. He sat at a table and pulled out his bug. He tossed it into the air, and flashed into it.

He was falling, the ground reared up to meet him. Just in time he pulled his wings out and soared upwards. He spun in a tight circle before flying through the holes in his door. He flew up and spun in the sunlight. 

After a couple of minutes he dropped down into the glider. He spun around inside of it in wonder. It was full of food and supplies. He flew the bug back to his hand and flashed back. 

He jumped up from the table and ran outside to the glider. He dropped down to the floorboard of the glider. He winced as he tugged on the floorboard but nothing gave. He finally gave up and reengaged the bug. He dropped down onto the board and to his surprise floated right through.

He flew back up and found that the bug wasn’t stopped by it at all. He dropped down and grabbed a piece of food and hauled it up but it stopped in its tracks below him falling out of his grasp.

He tried some of the other containers but the result was always the same. Finally he sat back in the glider and looked over at the sunset. An irritating tree was blocking his view but suddenly it dropped down and he had a perfect view. He turned to get out of the glider to see if another Cognit had shown up.

Instead, he found himself floating high above his house. He turned back into the glider and closed his eyes. He concentrated,  
“Down,” He whispered “Down.” He felt a slight drop and felt the glider touch earth. He opened his eyes and looked around, he was on the ground. He thought for a second, then focused on the floorboard, “Open.” The floor eased to the side and revealed a load of food and supplies.

-

Achilles unsquinted his eyes and felt the acid dissolve his solid barrier. As it dripped down his face he looked up and saw them approach a large city. It felt strangely reminiscent of the city he had been born in. It stood high with crystal towers and seemed to be connected from every angle.

The brutes Mandibles clenched harder and he passed out again.


	8. Cities Of Dust

Chapter 8 - Cities of dust.

The room shook with explosive force as he hunkered down behind a steel barricade. He flipped up his soot smeared goggles and peered over the rim of the barricade. He looked towards his glider and grimaced. The original glider sat in a shimmering haze, while his variation was now strewn across the test area. 

He stood up and noted it on a grimy white notepad. He walked over and checked his obsidian chest. It was empty. He shook his head and 

sat back, and accessed his new variation of bug. His eyes opened and he saw himself as a human. He opened his large wings and alit into the soft gunpowder tinted air. 

He flew up through a soft material into the open sunlight. After a moment he relaxed and extended a pair of rigid wings. He relaxed as the strain from beating the wings softened to nothing and he rocketed through the air, propelled by miniscule gunpowder ignitions. He propped open his eyes and examined his surroundings.

Below him he noticed another of the rippling trees, Curiosity gaining over better judgement he cut his gunpowder ignitions and plummeted down towards the earth. His sensors discerned no distinct openings so he flipped his body around and let loose a small reservoir of 

gunpowder that blew a small hole in the leaves. Retracting the larger wings, he descended down through the hole and caught sight of a large black beast stampeding away from the spot on eight long legs. He blinked in surprise and set off after it. 

After a couple of minutes he regained the distance lost and found himself flying next to a large spider. On top of the beast were six 

Cognit holding on for dear life. The one at the front beating the brute. Tentatively he reached out towards the beast and sent a calming wave.  
"Human!" Came a frantic response. "Not spider death." The beast slowed to a stop but the lead Cognit kept beating it furiously. With the realization that this was an intelligent creature, he became enraged and extended his wings as he flew towards the Cognit. He put on a quick burst and sliced past the lead Cognit. 

Turning in a sharp roll, he retracted his wings and came to a rest in front of the decapitated body. The other Cognit were looking at the body in surprise and fear. They looked up and he imagined what they might see, a strange metallic killer bird or a blood wreathed agent of their destruction. 

He launched himself into the air and blasted past them in a rage. He flew through a bloody rage and screamed when he finally came back enough to see a large wall rise up in front of him. He cut up and rocketed above it. When he glanced back down he could see the remnant of humanities power.

An Immense city, full of redstone and broken down walls. He dropped down as he spotted something perfect. Peeking through the blasted sides of the wall was an abundance of obsidian. He flew up toward the top of an outlying skyscraper and landed on the side of it. 

He ran a quick Nav system laying out the path he had took to there. After a moment he turned his beam on and focused it towards his base. He opened his eyes and stretched for a moment. He grabbed a couple of lenses from his shelf and attached them to his goggles. He yawned as he stood up and walked up a quick flight of stairs. 

 

He slipped his goggles down over his face and looked off towards the east. After a moment he saw the slight glimmer of light. He grinned and grabbed his sword and hopped onto the glider. He was going to town.

-

Achilles stretched and stood from his hammock. He yawned as the fluid seeped down his face and he walked from the room. He picked up a chicken from the pen to the side of his door and clutched the dead between his mandibles as he walked down the hallway. 

He turned into the classroom and sat down, the chicken started squawking and quickly grew irritating. He reached up and ripped the chickens body from his mandibles then chuckled as he tossed the head up and sucked it down his throat. 

The rest of the body soon followed. His first instructor strolled through the door and he relaxed, His plans had been delayed some. But in reality he was in a much better place to act then he had been. 

He relished the aftertaste of the chicken as he listened to the instructor as he began to speak.

-

His glider rippled the leaves below him as he shot through above the forest towards the city. His questions now finally answered about the strange land whales, he would salvage what he could carry from the city. Then he would return to his little fort and continue his experimentation with the gliders.

He approached the high wall and skidded to a stop as he caught a real first glance at the sheer size of the city. The walls themselves rose high into the sky and capped off at an imposing fifty blocks. He held out his hand as he gently accelerated along the side of the wall. As his fingers brushed the cold stone, a loud grating echoed from around him.

He veered away from the wall and spun his glider in a tight circle. The wall shook violently, dust cascading from the stone as a gap appeared. Cautiously he went through the gap and found himself at the epicenter of colossal destruction. 

The skyscrapers were bones up to just before the wall started. Their innards showcased to be made of stronger materials such as steel and obsidian. He floated forwards through the ravaged city and shivered at the cold air rushing through the virulent bones of a lost era. He approached the larger tower and concentrated on his bug. 

He shivered and toppled from the highest of heights. He shot towards the ground and triggered multiple explosions to unfreeze his metallic parts. His wings tensed then unclasped enough to allow his rigid set to extract themselves. He cut them out and made to tilt upwards right as he smashed into the ground.

He screamed in agony as his glider dropped to the ground from the overload. He couldn't move, and his eyes seared from intense pain.  
Something dark approached through the growing haze and he lost consciousness.


	9. Pain, Consequence, Rebellion.

Chapter 9 - Pain, consequence, rebellion.

He felt the blood rushing through his head and the pounding smashed against his eardrums like broken nails. He turned his body in vain trying to cool his body on the stone beneath him. His body began to cool down and he pressed himself down on the cool stone and relaxed. 

He began to drift off once more. His body cooled and he was disappearing into a dark void when he felt a cloth being layed over him. His body began to heat up again and sweat broke out on his skin. He fell into the dark void as his body temperature rose higher and higher.

-

Achilles turned and looked as his shell for a second, before applying a grease to it for shine. He turned and gazed upon himself in the reflective material for a second before draping a dim cloak over the front of his head.

Tonight would be the first of many. Tonight His followers would gather in one area as a united force. They would strike a small blow on the government, but that blow would lead the way for a true uprising.

-

He gasped as burning sweat cascaded down his forehead and his eyes snapped open to reveal a dark blurry room. Blinking the sweat out of his eyes, he rolled over and found a small source of light.

Barely conscious, he squinted his eyes and the room came into a brighter focus. Across the room were a myriad of spiders. He drifted off in a state of confusion as his head ripped open in splitting pain. His mouth opened in a silent scream as he faded out.

-

He walked beind the front row holding the form of the group with minor control. He gazed forward at the middle tower. He would be apprehended after this, but that would only help his power. 

The side group leaped into action on command and smashed through the front line of brutes. The brutes quickly gave way under the vicious attack from the Cognit armed with curved blades. 

The rest of the groups roared in defiance and smashed into the Cognit forces. They were tired and they were bloodthirsty. His Group held back with two others as if waiting for a call for reinforcements.

-

He floated through nothing for a long time before he finally closed back to reality. His eyes inched open and he found that he was indeed surrounded by spiders. All Cognits but the large mass sitting back in a cove in the wall.

He made to reach out but a Shout resounded from the room. Surprised he stopped. A cognit stepped up,  
“You cannot. You crippled yourself, you attempt contact or control and you lapse into a coma. Each time gets longer and longer, It isn’t worth it.”  
He looked around confused,  
“You Know about the telepathy?” The cognits seperated giving him a line of sight to the Mass in the cove.

“Yes, They Know.” He heard resound throughout his head. He looked up at the mass and three glowing red eyes appeared, and stared back at him.

-

The teams smashed through the outer windows and sirens exploded into sound blasted through the air. His teams pressed onwards The first several forays were fended off by security inside the building, but the voracity of the spiders were driven by memories of ill-equipped yet vicous human tactics. 

TNT was placed and building shook as the explosion resounded through the base of the tower. Bows were lashed and soon tar covered arrows were hurtling through the air imbedding themselve in redstone circuitry and Cognit bodies.

Finally the three groups were called forward and began their march on the battle. THe upper security fell away as they caught sight of three widely dispersed groups chanting and holding bright lights. They halted at the bottom but the tactic had worked and the inner troops flooded through unhindered.

-

“Then why are you hiding in an rust covered desolate city?” He asked after the Brute had spoken. “Surely you could do so much more!”  
“We are restricted; population, technology, and power. The Felic control it all.”  
“The Felic? I knew the Felic.”  
“No, You knew an isolated group on the fringes of society. They may have surpassed their brethren in terms of morality, but the Felics that remain here are just short of barbaric rulers.”  
“How are you restricted?”  
“Population checks, Scheduled executions, And Hormone control. Anyone can be a harsh master when they have complete control.”  
“Why help me, When I could be perceived as a threat?”  
“Because you will follow your conscience. Leave us to Stagnate and fade away, or help us break free.”

-

The last group forced their way into the building then all of the groups stopped, Layed down their weapons and layed into rest. The hostages, bleeding and sane didn’t move until official forces paraded through. fifty spiders of youth had entered, decimated and conquered a security building.

He sat in rest as the officers flooded around him and the others, rushing towards the building. Dark tinted shells approached him, and ordered them one by one onto a large brute. To enforce their orders they were held at weapon point.

Time passed quickly on the brute and almost instantly he found himself in a large iron room seemingly bleached of color. They filed in and sat in a circle around the center of the cubed room. The Dark-tinted shells came and took them out one at a time. 

When it came time for him they led him from the room and left him in an elaborate office. As he waited he kept his composure calm and sturdy, but inside he frantically paged through the memories of his followers. 

None of the others had been brought into a room like this, left alone, or had time to think before being questioned. He quickly lost track of time as he was consumed by worry and fear. They had no way to know who he was and what role he had played. 

Finally a Cognit stepped through the door and approached him. He remained silent and watched as it circled around him and sat at the desk in front of him.  
“Achilles, Achilles, Achilles...” It said disapproval dripping from its voice. “We took you from that slum city Vengeance. And we provided you with top rate Schooling. Then you participate in something like this!” Seeing Achilles’ confusion he introduced himself.  
“I am Mandrake. Head of Public Relations. You are my pet project. An orphan brought to the higher echelon of Cognit society. Everyone needs their fairytales.”  
“I didn’t do anything.”  
“Unfortunately all nineteen of the others with you said the same thing, The survivors of your attack also testify that they saw none of you. But hear this, Parables can be just as effective as Fairy tales. Sometimes more so.” Mandrake motioned towards the door. “You are free to go. But we will be watching.”


	10. Trial and Error.

Chapter 10 - Trial and Error

 

Tentatively, He approached the glider and looked at it. Unlike him it had escaped the ordeal unscathed. He touched the side of it, and winced he instantly tried to contact it. He touched it again and hefted himself over the edge of the glider and balanced on the side for a second before stepping in.

 

He looked down at the front of the glider and grimaced. There were no controls, except for telepathy. Hit with a burst of inspiration he held his hand out and touched the dash of the glider.

 

His arms tensed and a quite rushing sounded in the back of his head. As he made contact and formulated what he wanted the rushing grew louder. White flashed over his eyes and the rushing blasted through his ears.

 

He shuddered as his body changed temperature and the dashboard rippled. He felt pounding as the crimson river smashed through his head. He felt his face grow wet as the dashboard melted into a semblance of what he had wanted.

 

The last portion of the dashboard melted and revealed two levers and a set of buttons. He leaned back into the glider and shook as cold rippled through his body. Slowly the pounding faded and the rushing subsided. The river now submerged he relaxed.

 

He felt a strange sensation around his ears, He reached back and rubbed his fingers over his ear finding a warm liquid coating his lower neck. He pulled his hand back and found his fingers coated in blood.  
“I thought I told you it wasn't worth it.” Came a strong voice from behind him.

 

He focused on his glider and ignored the voice as he felt the blood start to dry on his fingertips. He spat on his fingers and quickly rubbed them off on his pants. He tensed as the Cognit came within his small range of feeling.  
“You are still using it.” It said, disbelief evident through its voice. “You can’t stop can you?” The Cognit seemingly glided across the floor and came to a spot in front of him.

 

It adopted a strikingly human pose, upper torso reclined and arm rubbing against its chin. He grinned, despite himself. “What is your name?”   
The red eyes widened and examined him for a moment before he answered.  
“I am Lupus, Named for the color of my eyes.” He looked at Lupus’s eyes, but discerned no difference from any others he had seen.   
“Color?” Lupus turned away, And started walking back the way he had come. He stopped suddenly,   
“At’thias Would like to know your consciousness’s resolution soon.” Then he continued on.

 

\--

 

Achilles stretched as he peacefully relaxed and ruminated on the events of the last twenty hours. He ransacked his brain, trying to find anything reliably linking him to the planning or execution of the events.

 

He finally relaxed and gave up trying to figure it out. He tapped into the viscous thoughts of his remaining nineteen co-conspirators. To his suprise and slight dismay, He found them all in similar states, Mimicking his thoughts.

 

Disturbed, He withdrew from their sanctums and left them to their own cross of confusion and turmoil. He had enough problems to worry about without adding their discomfort to his. He stood and turned around gazing over the green grass and vibrantly colored flowers.

 

He strode through the light fields and approached the glass barrier between this and the harsh wind outside. He gazed through the glass and watched the clouds drift lazily through the sky. As a large cloud passed around the globe, diverted by the glass, he caught sight of a crude construct slowly floating through the air.

 

A large spoke on the front of it deigned it as a Human Freight Barge coming from one of their secret mines off past the Cognit reach. It veered towards the edge of the city and He shivered with anticipation. If that barge came within ten blocks of the border then the Anti-Air Cannons would engage and blow them out of the sky.

 

He chuckled as a warning shot flew high into the sky and exploded sending shockwaves through the air barely missing the ship. It quickly veered away from the city and small puffs of smoke could be seen being puffed into the sky as it ascended to a safer altitude.

 

He wandered through the immense garden till he reached a lookout point. He walked through a set of glass doors, and stared down at the earth below the dome. He made out the faded shapes of Cognit wandering to and fro within their mammon-thine city yet how they were dwarfed by their great world.

 

\--

 

He sat back in the glider and examined the complex array ahead of him. A large blue button sat between two simplistic levers, while a series of red buttons ranged on either side of the levers. He reached out and pulled at one of the levers but nothing happened. He pulled the other, still nothing.

 

Slightly nervous he glanced around and before he thought better of it he reached out and tapped the big blue button. The glider shook as it lifted from the floor and the control panel lit up. He reached again for the levers and gingerly pulled them back in synchronys.

 

Popping erupted from beneath him and the glider raised higher up into the air. He pulled them back a bit more and he raised up. He relaxed them and he drifted downwards. Slowly he relaxed them and set back down on the ground.

 

He pulled one hand back from the lever to wipe his face, and suddenly the craft began to spin. He was thrown off balance and he held onto the lever for dear life. The glider spun faster and faster as he grasped for a a handhold.

 

He grabbed for the other lever but lost the grip on the one he had in the process. He watched surreally as he flew backwards from the glider and it stopped spinning. He continued on through the air and lost all thought as he felt the wall approaching.

 

Desperately, He called out and the air around him cushioned his crash against the wall. He screamed as he slowly floated down the wall, Body and mind experiencing pain beyond any other. By the time he hit the ground his mind was vacant, and his body was limp.


	11. Smash through the embers

Chapter 11 - Smash through the embers.

 

He groaned as his eyes finally cracked open. Feeling what he expected to be the ground, he was surprised to find that he was on a blanket. He picked himself up and looked around the dark room. Remembering the multiple warnings he had suffered through, he fought not to enrich it.

 

Slowly, he stumbled up from the padding on the floor and made his way on-wards searching for a wall. After several minutes he found a wall and made his way on-wards till he found a hallway. He turned into it and caught sight of a soft blue light at the end of the hallway.

 

Spurred on by the light, he kept his fingers grazing the wall and walked faster. The light advanced onwards just out of his sight. His pace picked up till he was running full sprint with the infernal blue light staying a step ahead of him.

 

He rounded the last corner behind it and heard a familiar deep voice rumbling. He followed the voice and blinked as he turned into a much better lit room. Ahead of him he found At’thias calmly sitting on the ground before regally decorated spiders.

 

Their shells were speckled with emeralds and plated with gold. One in the center held a majestic iron staff, topped with a diamond. With this staff it struck out and beat At’thias on the head. It screeched something but the words were incomprehensible.

 

At’thias seemed to respond, then the other ‘regals’ lashed out as well. Blood splattered through the room as they lashed out with swords and staffs of varying types. He watched in horror as they decimated his body and left him lying there.

 

Something touched him from behind and he whirled around ready to fight. Instead he found Lupus standing before him.   
“At’thias is gone.” Lupus only nodded his understanding.

 

Lupus turned away and his retinas flashed a vibrant blue as he led him from the room.

 

\--

 

Achilles looked up despondently at the dark moon for a long minute. Then he slowly pulled himself from rest position. He pulled himself through the leaves and high grass as he continued on through the field.

 

He walked through the field and crested a small hill before turning down into a stairwell. He looked back up at the same starlit sky and waved farewell as he descended and it faded out of view.

 

He continued his descent downwards and passed from the moonlight into torchlight. He walked slowly down the stairs, and thought a little of his past. He remembered his life on the Globe and thought in truth how much he missed it.

 

He passed another torch then suddenly ran into a large Cognit whose form flooded the passageway so fully,one couldn’t see how it fit in there in the first place. He backed up, dazed from being drug out of his memories so abruptly.   
“Move please.” He asked. The Cognit didn't respond.

 

Frustrated, he turned around and headed back up the stairs. Almost immediately he ran into another Cognit. He looked back and forth between the two,   
“So, am I supposed to come with you two?” The only response was a nod, and they turned in synchronys and started down the stairs. Him firmly trapped between them.

 

At the bottom they were joined immediately by two others. He lost track of where he was as they continued on through endless expanses and countless turns.

 

\--

 

He followed Lupus back through such a medley of hallways that he quickly lost track of where they were and where they had been. The halls blended together and he thought quietly about the murder of At’thias and how foolish the Felics had appeared.

 

They finally reached the room with the glider and he followed directly behind lupus until he could feel the glider under his hand. He climbed in and felt for the middle button. He found it and quickly rapped it.

 

the glider lit up and a low thrum filled the air as he pulled the levers lightly down. It lifted off the ground again and shook lightly to the side as Lupus jumped onto it. He held one of the left buttons and the glider drifted forwards.

 

After several minutes of navigating, they finally roared out onto the streets of the dead city. They flew forward and and Lupus directed him towards the wall. They rode out through the streets and the dead city creaked around them.

 

Lupus pointed ahead at a strange glimmering sight. He cut the engines as they drifted closer. The glimmering faded and he made them out to be a squad of gliders.  
“The Felics must have come in on these!” He exclaimed. Lupus turned towards him,  
“We can free the rest of them!” Lupus hopped from the glider. “Don’t leave without me!”

 

Lupus took off down the street and quickly disappeared down the road. He waited for a couple minutes before Lupus came running back leading a group of Cognits. They ran towards the gliders, and piled in as the Felics came piling out of one of the intact buildings.

 

\--

 

The giant Cognits finally separated from each other and he found himself in a dark room. They faded into the shadows cast by dim redstone lighting and seemed to disappear. He slumped into rest position and bowed his head in wait.

 

A soft swish echoed through the room and he glanced up. A dark shapeless form drifted into view and stops silhouetted by the lamps. He almost laughed as he realized what the trick was. Before he could speak a whispery voice echoed through the room.  
“Young Cognit, So full of life, and so full of spirit.   
Your attack earlier today was superb, Using backup figureheads, and planting yourself almost nowhere near the crime was brilliant. Many people are watching you, Now of your own volition.”

 

\--

 

The Felics screamed and arrows arced through the air as he accelerated and the gliders behind him mimicked. An arrow smashed through the air right next to him. He glanced over at Lupus,  
“Can’t you Do something?” He yelled.

Lupus seemed to grin and held up a remote. He smashed his appendage into a button on the remote and a chuckle echoed through the wind. A loud rumble echoed behind them as they accelerated towards the wall.

He looked back and gasped as he caught sight of the city crashing steel tower by tower into the ground behind him. He looked up and blinked as a brilliant white flash blasted over them and the sound of explosion ripped through the air, as the wall ahead of them blew sky-high and they roared through the rubble.

\--

“You have one choice,” The shadowy form stated. “either you join us. Or you die.” Achilles sat back and watched it for a second.   
“I guess I would have to join you.”


	12. Collective torture.

Chapter 12 -Collective Torture.

He reclined to hide his jump of anticipation as the Collective bots filled the air with buzzing and lifted from the table like a rippling carpet. He clenched his fist as a bout of envy crippled his thought process, and took him to places he had fought to seal away in his mind. He averted his eyes from the bots forming themselves into a spherical shape, and focused on Lupus rocking back and forth in concentration.

Lupus was surely the one that had led him to witness At'thias's murder. Once he had witnessed Lupus's eyes for himself his assumption had been unshakable. Now protected under the unbreakable film that coated his sterling blue eyes.

The Collective Hovered around the room and faced him as a large mechanical blob floating through the air. He looked at it for a moment before a cheer rang out through the room, he looked up at a set of screens and saw the side of his head showcased on it.

“Functional Telepathy!” A cognit roared behind him.

The collective moved away from him and formed a threadbare shell around Lupus. A tiny highpitched whine shot through the air and Andrew grabbed his ears as it relegated itself to a lower pitch. Everyone jumped as a monotone voice superseded the medley of pitches.

“Don’t you love, Multi-tone speakers!”

Everyone looked at Lupus’s prone form for a long second before cracking up laughing. the Cognit flooding the room with their hackling chuckles.

\--

He groaned as he straightened up and his ducts flooded, washing the film from his eyes and making him wince at a harsh light above him. As the light faded he instantly became aware of the fact that he was definitely not in his Dorm room. Hesitantly glancing through the seemingly purposeful glare he discerned a shadow of a desk ahead of him and a stand lighting the air ahead.

He hissed as the light grew brighter forcing him to fall back. He jumped from rest position and launched himself towards the light source intent on taking it out. Instead of smashing the light source he smashed into a hard metallic wall.

He groaned as he realized his mistake and patted the reflective surface before lunging back towards the light source. His head exploded as the true light source blasted him and he charged closer.

He turned his head averting his eyes and broke the bulb sending the room into an unparralelled darkness. He fell to the ground and groped at his eyes. A deep voice he immediately recognized as The Headmaster spoke.

“So that is why your charisma has halved since your arrival.”

He spat in the general direction of the voice.

“You Freaks aren’t Cognit!”

“Neither are you.”

“This entire academy is full to the brim of unsuceptible freaks.” He spat again, Rattled by the light, and the looseness of his tongue.

“It seems we are more, Aquainted with you. Then you are with us.”

“We are Rulixe And we know your weaknesses.” Another light flicked on, half as bright but strangely painful to watch.

He twisted backwards but strong limbs took hold of him and forced his head closer to the light. His mouth opened and words streamed as the light overtook him.

\--

The Threadbare shell lit up and drew more laughter before the collective finally made its way out of the room. Quickly soaring up into the atmosphere, it flew into a column of geese. Squawking ensued as the geese tried to avoid the unnatural companions of the air.

They watched as the collective seperated and landed on a few of the geese. The geese went into fits trying to shake the miniscule bots and the room barely contained their laughter. The geese rocketed through a cloud and the Collective dispersed leaving them behind.

They went up and burst through the cloud running directly into a mettalic bird of the sky. Stunned the cameras rotated as the Collective fell, before quickly reorienting itself. They flew up and peered through windows and buzzed near entrances.

After a couple of minutes, they formed a line and went into the ship. It was a calm place, seemingly devoid of human life. The group remained sitting entrapped by the view of the Ghost ship. The Collective meandered through analyzing signs and following the directions toward the bridge.

They arrived at the bridge in seemingly no time. And found a disturbing sight, A human body sat at the controls, but that body was lax and its skin was pasty. They flew towards it and found wires attached to it with data ports around it.

They landed on its hand and all but one flew away in surprise when a hand clamped down on it.

A red light seared through the lone trapped camera and Lupus began shaking uncontrollably. All eyes returned to the screen as a laugh echoed through the speakers, And a loud voice crackled through. “Little, Filthy Spies! We are going to follow you all the way home.” Lupus groaned behind them and andrew glanced over and watched the liquid drop off his eyes.

His horror grew as he turned back towards the screen and watched the Collective continue to move.

\--

He blinked again and found himself lying in bed. His dim recollections of the night seemed to offer a horrible torturous experience. He examined his room but found nothing out of place. He shook his head and clambered from rest.

He walked through a thin curtain and listened to the musical tinkling behind him as he walked through the Dorm halls and headed towards his first classroom. His eyes roved the hallways and picked out a couple of people that he knew.

He waved and chuckled as he turned into his first classroom. He shivered as another memory of his dream, floated to the front of his memory. He looked at the Guest lecturer and found that he too was like the rest of the people here.

Empty and soulless, But here was a place he fit in. He couldn’t twist things and people to his will, maybe because there was no will but he could have a conversation without being bombarded by the thoughts of fear and respect he forced on his companions.

He looked up, realizing that the Lecturer had begun to speak and returned from his little world.

\--

“He Doesn’t seem to remember the incident.” The larger spider said.

“Could he be acting?” The Headmaster Asked.

“He didn’t flinch during a seminar on torture techniques. I think he is safe. For now at least.”


	13. Broken

Chapter 13 - Broken

He sat placidly before the dark screens and Vainly attempted to blot the implications of the strange creature from his mind. The entire room was flooded with an unbearable silence. Everyone's minds were full of thoughts of things to come and what might come.

He turned and glanced at the strangely pale form of Lupus. Still recovering from the Being telepathically battered and thrust from an active control his eyes had lost their usual luster. As he watched Lupus a strange shudder rippled down his shoulders before resounding lower down his back, He twisted and shook for a second before standing altogether.

A Cognit rushed into the room as he stretched and yelled.

“The Barge!” The room bristled in anticipation and worry.

Lupus turned his luster still lacking but life returned to his voice.

“It blew up right?” He gave a weak chuckle.

“No, It’s due north five hundred meters and closing.

With a subdued air the group looked at him. He looked around,

“We would be poor hosts if we didn’t give them a warm welcoming, huh?” He reached over and pressed a series of buttons and started for the stairs. Swishing of pistons clouding the air.

\--

He rested his upper appendage lightly on his head and tottered through the hallways in a foggy daze. Another image smashed through his head obliterating reality and casting him out till he crashed against a wall. He stood as a tremor shook his body and his ducts flooded, causing him to lose sight of the hall.

From the darkness came a brilliant light

that blinded him. He rocked backwards in pain and let loose a shrill cry. His whole dim world was smashed to bleeding splinters by the horrid light. His eyes exploded in pain as the bright light scorched them and he cried out in pain.

He felt the acid flush over his eyes and a sob of relief echoed as the light was drained away and reality affixed in its place. He picked himself up and refused to stare at the crowd of Spiders staring at him, Their shells strangely glistening in the light.

“We Know Your Weaknesses!”

A voice sounded through his skull.

“We Are Rulixe!”

A myriad of voices rang.

He opened his eyes and stared at the group of spiders,

“You aren’t Cognit!” He Whispered in a dazed sense of horror. “You are Rulixe.”

The Crowd froze in surprise and stepped backwards. For the first time since his arrival thoughts flowed from everywhere and smashed through him. He felt speared to the wall behind him and breathing seemed to grow harder with each tremulous gasp.

He folded backwards as he felt his ducts flood and the light return. The light encompassed him. It knew him, and it knew how to hurt him. He cried out in desperation as the light grew more intense.

Voices crowded through his head and asked him about everything; his life, his exile, his plans. He was in such pain that he told them everything. They drained him dry, leaving him no secrets and little life.

The acid flooded again and he looked out at the hallway. A plug seemed to have been pulled and the hallway was draining out. An Age-Mate appeared out of the corner of his eye and approached him. Shakily, he started to pull himself to a standing position.

He started to slip and a pair of appendages caught him and he looked up into friendly eyes.

“Everyone breaks, Its a surprise it took you this long.” He refused to meet Shiloh’s eyes as she helped him up.

“I am not supposed to break. I can’t.”

\--

They stood at the summit of the tower and watched the mammon-thine Barge float menacingly through the sky like a foreboding dark cloud. Its metallic edges shimmered and distorted giving off faint reflections giving a twisted and muddled collage of sky and ground.

They watched as it veered off cutting seamlessly around the broad mycelium barriers. He smiled as it continued on.

“To smart to go over our cannons.”

Several Cognit Engineers had been with the group when they fled the city. And with the bodily aid of Lupus and Himself They had supervised the construction of Large high-powered TNT Cannons designed to barrage Ships from below.

According to some of the calculations, The ship before them would take no longer than a minute at normal speed. At high They would barely notice that there had been a ship. The Mycelium barrier itself seemed to be their best protection.

More than once they had found a steaming corpse or two steaming in acid halfway across. Whether trying to leave or to get in, they usually didn’t know. Spies in a sense were impossible as there was no way out, unless by Glider and only Lupus could control them.

They turned and watched the barge circle around their Castle-Like base, Losing sight only when it passed behind the main citadel. As it came out on the other side they caught sight of faint flashes coming from the midsection of the ship.

“They still use flash for image capture?” A technician exclaimed in Horror.

A couple of chuckles resounded as the thought stuck. Flash had never been a form of photographic technology here, as the Cognits had long surpassed it in almost every way, just by relying on Gamma ray emissions.

Lupus straightened up and looked at the ship.

“They are broadcasting in DL-Frequencies.” He Said, “looks like we are going to have a bit more company...”

\--

They walked through the Gardens in silence. Shilo walked onwards and cut through a plot of vibrant red and yellow flowers he followed close behind. They approached a large Hedge wall and passed through it.

Rising up ahead of them was a small pyramidical shape that tapered into a tower rising up into the sky. He stopped as he looked at it in surprise before glancing back at Shilo. His eyes traveled up into the sky following the line until it just about faded away.

At the very top it expanded and seemed to be rounded. They resumed walking as the top vanished, enveloped in a cloud. The pyramid opened a small slot inwards and revealed an iron ladder reaching up into the tower.

Shiloh walked in and climbed up the ladder. He looked at the top again for a long moment before walking into the Pyramid and ascending the ladder.

He came out from the ladders pit and gazed up at the sun above him. He looked over and found Shiloh sitting at the edge of the glass gazing out at the horizon. He took hold of the tree near him and stepped over to the glass.

He brought himself down into rest position, and sat beside Shilo. He could feel the slight sway of the tower and his ducts flooded leaving him in a dark peaceful bliss.


	14. Leaving the nest

Chapter 14 - Leaving the nest.

 

He looked up from his array of dials and glanced musingly out the window. He pulled out some paper and started sketching out a rudimentary design for a ship based on a cloud.

 

He quickly finished the base design and fished out another piece of paper to draw the technical design out on. A couple of lines later he glanced up to clarify a shape. 

 

To his chagrin he watched as a dark shape burst through it and dispersed it. He sighed and called out.  
“Guess they are finally here...” A couple Cognit looked up in surprise and one raced off to get Lupus.

 

He looked at the ships and Went back to drawing. They were more streamlined then the first one that was still circling their base. With rounded forms and rivulets cut in the sides, they almost looked like they were living.

 

He drew out several pictures until Lupus finally walked into the room.  
“Commotion?” He asked oblivious to the window. Ignoring him altogether he nodded towards the window and continued drawing. Lupus looked up at the window, “Had to happen sometime soon.”

 

Shaking his head, he returned to tracing a trail of white streamlined wind, rushing down the cut rivulets. As they got closer everything got tenser. Finally he stopped drawing and stood up. He looked over at the technicians.

 

They signaled they were ready and they awaited the barges arrival. Rattling echoed through the room. He looked over at Lupus for clarification.  
“That shouldn’t be happening.” Lupus said with a concerned note in his voice. A technician looked up,  
“they are moving too fast! At least 7,000 bph!”  
The rattling grew louder until the barges were almost on top of them and a deafening roar filled the room.  
“How will they stop?” He yelled.

 

Before someone could respond huge explosions rang out and they looked up to find the fronts of the ships on fire.  
“Did their engines blow?” Came the incredulous voice of Lupus. But the smoke and fire cleared showing no damage. 

 

The ships cruised through much slower now and settled above the mycelium strips. “Ready to fire!” A technician called out, “They won’t know what hit them!”  
He looked over at Lupus and raised his hand as the ships began to lower to the ground.

 

Tense moments followed, but He couldn’t do it. He turned away,  
“We would be rude Hosts if we didn’t introduce ourselves Lupus.” The technicians slumped and looked at the ships now landed with armed troops pouring out.

 

They walked out the front and faced a General flanked by men. The General grunted and motioned towards him. Several men walked forward and took hold of him dragging him towards one of the ships. 

 

He wrenches one of his arms away and looks back to find Lupus calmly talking to the General. He lost sight of them as he was pulled up into the ship. They dropped him in a seat opposite a finely suited man.  
“Hello,” The man said, but he ignored him. He moved and stared out the window.

 

He looked down and faintly made out the shapes of Lupus and the General. Unconsciously his eyes adjusted and he saw them clearly. As he did, the General reached out and punched Lupus in the face. He gasped drawing the attention of the suited man.  
“What is it?” He only pointed as he watched lupus draw his swords and cut the general into multiple pieces.

 

The suited man jumped up and ran over, his eyes hardened as he saw the faint red of blood and a stream of Cognit forces assailing the disembarking humans.  
“No!” the man cried. “Not like this!”

 

He picked up a phone and waited a moment. In that moment the room flashed red and white, then the Ship Shook violently. They looked out the window at the myriad of burning ships.  
“Captain,” He gulped. “Get us out of here!” 

 

Warily, the man sat back down and looked him. The ship rocked under blasts once more and a white bead of air shot under the window.  
“Pure Explosive ratio here.” The man said as he relaxed.

 

\--

 

He nearly pranced through the streets as he headed in the vague direction of the wall. He was happy, truly happy. Shiloh was going to meet with him on top of the easternmost wall, He pranced onwards. 

 

He looked up as a large form blotted out the lowering sun, casting him into shadow. He slowed to a trot as he looked at it. It seemed to be some sort of ship. It would probably veer off right before the cannons. He smiled and resumed his earlier pace.

 

Then the world exploded and he was thrown across the street into a wall. Screams and explosions mix together in a strangely beautiful symphony, as he blacked out.

 

A crack finally resounded through his head and acid flushed his eyes. He pulled himself up from the ground and looked around at the destruction. The buildings around him were on fire and had hole cut through them.

 

Slowly, he turns and looks towards the wall. It lies in ruins, burning, destroyed, fiery ruins. Shilo was going to meet him on that wall he realized.  
“Shilo!” He called out, as he scanned the streets before him.

 

As he nears the walls, he sees more and more bodies, more and more blood. He shivered despite himself as he passed another body.  
“Who caused this?” A Cognit cried as he leaned over a body.  
More cries went up as he trudged along. “Who is responsible!”

 

He ignored them and kept looking through the dust hoping to find Shiloh. Suddenly, he was lifted from his feet again and thrown high into the air by another explosion. This one echoing from below the ground and exploding upwards in fury.

 

He fell to the ground and rubble rained around him.Something hard yet not rock landed beside him and rolled up against him. he looked over and let out a mournful cry as he saw Shiloh’s eyes staring at him from a severed head.

 

Sobs shook his body and he slowly brought himself up from the street. Shiloh’s head gently cradled in his appendages. He screamed in pain as he looked around at all the meaningless destruction.

 

\--

 

He looked back as the castle seemed to fade away into the distance. His eyes roved over the emptiness remembering the contours and designs. He looks up at the man in the suit.  
“Can I get some paper and a quill?” The man seemed ready to decline but only nodded his head and rummaged through a bag beside him.

 

A minute later he handed over a sheath of paper and a fine quill.  
“Thank you.” The man only nodded his head and gazed off into nowhere. He turned back towards the window and began to draw the outline of the castle.

 

A quill later he put the paper down and looked back into the distance at the castle. A strange red light pierced the veil and blinked, then blinked again and held. After another moment it blinked again. He shuffled through the paper and grabbed another paper and mimicked the lights behavior. 

 

“Long, Short, Long, Long, Long...” He muttered under his breath. The man reached forward and plucked the drawing of the castle from the pile.  
“This is really good.” the man said with a note of surprise in his voice. 

 

He continued marking the code out and found several correlating lines.  
“What coding system do you use for your Direct-light communications?” The man looked up from the picture,  
“What do you mean?” He looked at the paper in his hands. “let me see that.” He took the paper and read it out.  
“S... O.. S.” the man turned and looked at him, “There are still people back there!”

 

He shook his head, “The light cut out a minute ago.” They both looked back through the fog. A fierce blue light suddenly burst through and he started charting the flashes.

 

The man shook his head. “I can’t make sense of it.”  
“It’s not yours.” He jotted down strange letters on the paper.  
“I’ve seen writing like that...” The man said in a bemused voice. “You can write in Spider.”  
He looked warily back at the man. “And if I can?”  
“Then you could be very useful to us.”

 

He looked down and continued charting out the words safe in the knowledge that they couldn’t read it. He finished the transcription and read it to himself in Felic. “Andrew, If you are reading this then our human captive told me the truth and can enjoy his constrained liberty. We have fended off the human troops and have went to work rebuilding the castle. We will be here when you return. 

 

“And if you don’t when the time comes. we will come for you. If you wish, you can relay that we have fifty human prisoners. Spawns firmly reset. Prosper in the fields Andrew,  
Lupus.”

 

He looked up to the man. “Apparently, they have fifty human prisoners with set spawns.” The Man blinked,  
“Set spawns?”  
“Yep.”

 

\--

 

They wrenched her head from his hands and dragged him away. He cried out as her head bounced on the ground and rolled away. “Give her back!” He cried. “I’ll be good!” 

 

A disgusted snort came from one of the forms dragging him and he stopped fighting. A cloth got slammed down over his head and he lost sight of everything else. Finally he let his ducts flush and he faded away.

 

His eyes flushed with venom when they stopped and lowered him into what felt like a chair. Low voices echoed around him but he couldn’t make them out. Finally the Cloth was ripped from his head.

 

Not to much surprise he found himself staring into the Headmaster’s eyes when he adjusted to the light. A strange but familiar light eased on the edges of his vision. Igniting warning lights in his head. He turned to avoid them but found himself looking at others.

 

He redirected his gaze towards the Headmaster and Pleaded. “Not the light!” The Headmaster seemed to ignore him. “Please not the light.”  
“You can not fail! You Can not concede! You can not and you will not know defeat.  
You saw what the Humans Did to Shiloh. They murdered her! You can not let them get away with that.”

 

He nodded frantically as the light eased into his frame of vision and obliterated all other thoughts. “They can’t get away with this.”

 

\--

 

He looked around the stark white room and sighed. His unruly eyes traversed the glass door but moved away as he saw another officer march down the hallway. There were just to many people here at the moment.

 

It would probably be safer to find out what the General wanted to speak to him about first anyways. He looked over and looked at the odd wooden desk, planted in the middle of a white metallic room. He looked at the man sitting behind it and released an audible sigh.

 

“The Military broached your previous occupations now we are stuck with you.” The white haired, wide shouldered, Apogee of the militant consulate said. “This is the third group we have sent you to.” The general said with a growl under toning his words.

 

“They all said you couldn’t interact with people your age. Chairman Zaddoc gives high regards to your drawing and designing ability coupled with your fluent understanding of the Main spider language.”

 

The general grinned, a baring of teeth that served to intimidate rather than show amusement. “Since you cant act human, Maybe we should send you to those who aren’t. The Pyritians could always use another hand.”

 

He gave an involuntary shiver,  
“Pyritians?” The generals grin grew wider,  
“I believe that one of them intimately aided our tracking of you and your little spider buddies.”  
“You can’t send me there!” He cried.  
“And you’ll stop us how?”

 

He shuddered and quickly made up his mind. He stood up and walked towards the door. “I am not going to them.”  
“Oh, Really?” The General snarled.  
“Nope.” He turned and watched as the General walked around the side of the desk. then he ran as fast as he could and stepped up onto the desk before launching himself off and smashing through a small glass pane behind him.

 

His arms smarted as he fell through the air and smashed into the ground. He rolled off the impact and ran past a group of surprised cadets. Behind him he heard faint bellowing, and the sharp report of the cadets resuming their marching. 

 

Ahead he saw a Dimly lit Barge drop, A ship designed for short flights to and from land or barges. He hit the side of the cockpit and ripped it open. He jumped in and hit several buttons activating it. 

 

The ship rattled as its engines powered up. He nudged the controls and it lifted into the air. He looked out the window and saw several troops of soldiers running towards the Barge drop. 

 

Hurriedly he pressed forward on the controls and it rose higher into the air. He deftly turned the ship and moved away from the barges. The control panel flashed multiple colors and the gauges spun.

 

A bright red light on the roof lit up displaying “Autopilot” He groaned as the ship spun in a tight circle and headed towards a barge. He slammed on the cockpit eject button but the seat jammed. He grimaced as the ship came in for a landing.

 

A Major stood up and peered into the cockpit. “So you are our unruly passenger.” The cockpit popped open and several soldiers appeared and wrenched him from the seat. He spat on the ground as they dragged him off into the ships depths.

 

\--

 

The light seared at his eyes. He twisted trying to fight his way away from it. He cried out again but his throat was scratchy and he could barely speak. Finally he felts his ducts flood and sweep his eyes clean.

 

The light went with it, burnt away by powerful acid. He looked around his room and shivered as he remembered Shilo’s eyes, and the destruction the humans had caused.

 

He stood and walked over to the window. He looked out and looked at the mostly rebuilt city. at the moment the city was rebuilding, but the war engine had awakened and it would not be halted.

 

The image of Shilo’s eyes reappeared in his minds eye. “The humans were responsible, They won’t get away with this!” 

 

\--

 

The pounding on the door woke him up. He eased himself up and groggily looked at the door as it opened. “Get up princess.” An officer scoffed as he saw him still laying in bed. 

 

He swung his legs over and stretched as he stood up. “Where to today, peon?” The soldier grinned.  
“Not today princess. Today you ship out to the slenders.” He groaned as the soldier smiled wider.

 

Then turned and followed the soldier from his room. They walked through several, organic hallways, built around the rest of the ship. Till they finally reached the hull and walked in a semi-straight line. Finally they came to an iron door.

 

The soldier looked through the grating on the top, “I’ll miss your wit princess.”  
Then he placed a lever and flicked it. The iron door shifted open and displayed a yellow writhing hallway.  
“I have to go through that?” He said incredulously. “You have got to be kidding me!”

 

The soldier nodded his sympathies then pushed him through the door and closed it behind him. “Face your fears head on princess!” He scowled and stepped cautiously on the yellow floor. It bent below him and he shuddered uncontrollably.

 

He backed up a step and jumped as far as he could, landing a foot away from the other side. He grabbed hold of the tough substance and pulled himself onto the other side. 

 

He shook as he stood up and faced a pale creature that only vaguely seemed human. It blinked and he felt cautious tendrils tap his consciousness. It turned its head and blinked in confusion. “You are.” It stopped seemingly lost for words. “broken.”

 

“You are broken.” He shuddered again and turned away from its piercing gaze. He walked into someone else.  
“Its okay, they freak me out too.” It was his turn to blink as he looked into a human, an actually human face. “So, they don’t like you either?” 

 

Confusion must have strayed onto his face, because the boy laughed. “This place is pretty odd, You have to like machines more than humans.” He let himself grin.  
“Then i should fit.”

 

The boy turned away and started walking. “I’ll show you where we normals sleep.”  
“Who are the rest of the ‘Normals’?”  
“Well, there’s you... and your amazing host Dominic.” He spun around and flashed another smile. “Hey when we finish our time here we are guaranteed our own ships. So Lets live it up.”


	15. Secret mines, Death to humans.

Chapter 15 - Secret mines, Death to humans.

He felt the cautious probing of the Pyritian, he glanced up from the circuit board and saw it staring at him. It’s glassy eyes roved his work but he said nothing. He went back to arranging the wires and sighed as he finished dropping the last bit of dust.

He reached over and grabbed a focused torch and held it over the wiring. and watched the red wiring melt to the board. He set it down on the desk to dry and stood up. He stretched and looked around his small workstation. Not very trusting, or just not caring the Pyritians had him and Dominic firmly separated.

Yawning he turned and walked out of the room and headed down a short hallway. He turned and let the cool breeze guide him. the whole ship used off balanced air pressure to protect the machinery in the workstations. As well as providing a constant circulation of air.

Soon he came to a flight of stairs and as he ascended gazed out the parallel windows running beside the stairway. The ship hung permanently above the Secret mines, a vast destroyed portion of the world. It lay thousands of chunks away and its location was a jealously guarded secret, known only to the Pyritians and a few human captains.

He turned off the stairs and headed towards his room. He eased the door open and walked in. The lights flashed on and he grabbed his notebook off his distinct metallic desk. He turned on his heel and walked back past his bed and out the door. He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he again followed the airflow up the stairs. 

He followed the breeze through a myriad of hallways and countless stairs till he arrived in an upper tower. He gazed down over the ships exoskeleton and gauged the time by the amount of the sun showing.

He estimated that had a couple of hours at least. Confident in his assessment he reclined and peered down at large machines cavorting over the destroyed earth. The ground remained a ruddy grey and black, and he tensed as he hunched over to write.

He quickly drew an outline of the mines and then traced in the machines boring and treading the strange materials. 

He scratched out the paper as he ruined the bedrocks material. He shrugged and sat it down beside him. He picked up another piece of paper and emboldened the lines of a ship. He wrote out some different estimations on resources and capabilities. 

After a couple of minutes he picked up a blank piece of paper and started drawing out the mines again. This time he started with the bedrock, then moved to the machines. Before finally adding clouds and the edges of a ship peaking into the picture.

He heard a step behind him and he tensed, he glanced back but didn’t see anyone so he returned to his drawing.  
“Nice Drawing.” Dominic's voice came from beside him. He cursed as he jumped and the picture went flying. “Jumpy much?” Dominic said and grabbed the picture gently from the air. “What is this?” He asked as he notice the schematics below the picture.  
“A ship.”  
“No kidding, this ship is extreme in detail.” He looked down, hazel eyes glowing in appreciation. “You have a deft hand.”  
“I could draw you one.”  
“Yeah, what is this to be called?”  
“The Eagles Talon.”  
“Then why not make me The Eagles Wing.” He said with a grin.

\--

He stood and surveyed the council before pointing at a dark screen, mounted behind him in full view of the council.  
“This is who we were before.” A series of images followed his words. A large gleaming city, with Cognit roaming through the streets and the sun shining.  
“This is who we were after.” A dark city ripped apart by explosions, bodies strewn across the streets and blood smeared on walls.  
“This is us.” A somber city whose towers reached only half the height of the earlier ones. Holes still blown in portions of buildings and Cognit warily walking through the streets.

“If you would get to your point, no need to remind everyone of this catastrophe.” The spokesman for the council said with a hint of impatience.  
“But there is.” He said looking up at the council spokesman.  
“Then get to it.”  
“This is who caused the catastrophe.” He motioned up to the screen, which shifted to show a human standing in the middle of the screen. “Humans have caused every major disaster that has befell us.”

He turned back to the Spokesman. “We can’t let them get away with consistently destroying us. We pushed them from the ground and forced them into the air. Now let us crash their hopes and destroy them once and for all.”

The spokesman looked at him. “If you had any backing behind you here I might Sympathize, but i am seeing nothing of merit.” He continued. “The humans fouled up their navigation, we fouled up our circuitry. Nothing more to the subject.“

“Then why did they come across then? There have been seven hundred and ninety-six passings by human ships. While true that this ship was new and hadn’t crossed us before. Don’t you think that the officers would know not to risk themselves in such a way unless they Knew that they would escape unscathed?”

The spokesman interrupted, “The ship did not get away unscathed. it crashed not a hundred meters from our walls after being clipped by an explosion. We dealt with out crisis and the humans sent a convoy along with a rescue and salvage team. They offered supplies and assisted with all but personnel.”

The Spokesman shook his head. “Achilles, Your request for a per-emptory strike en masse on the humans is formally denied. In regards to your fervent argument I will send my regards to Headmaster Relx for your training. Have a good day.”

\--

He shook his head and walked down from the tower. He had finished the photo but it was missing a singular final touch. He walked down against the curtain of air and coughed as an awful stench wafted past him. 

He looked up and winced as he passed through the fuel refinery. He looked up and saw on of the Pyritians munching on a roll made of bread and meat. His stomach rumbled and he realized that he had probably missed dinner. He turned at the stairs and headed towards the Mess hall.

Air again buffeting his face he walked through the hallways. The Pyritians might look strange, but they really knew how to cook. He walked through a set of double doors and perked up as he smelled a spicy brew coming from the direction of the kitchen. 

He walked up to the tray line and was greeted with a bowl of spiced mushroom soup arranged with noodles and cut carrots. He thanked the server and sat at one of the tables. After a minute he began to eat, the delicious flavor making him reminiscent of the base and his friends.

He was still reminiscent when a Pyritian walked in and sat at his table.  
“Andrew.” It said. “You do well with your work, your wiring is superb. It parallels some of our best.” 

He looked up warily as he felt tendrils again tap at his brain. “My only thought is that you must have had some work before coming here. Dominic’s skills are rudimentary compared to yours and he has been here for a year.”  
“Maybe its just a skill.” He shrugged.  
“You are spider-kissed. Smitten with the gift of telepathy, but at the same time that gift is scratched and torn.”  
“Leave me alone.”  
“We are just trying to help you,”  
“Then leave me alone!” He said as he stood up from the table grabbed his notebook and stormed out of the mess hall. Once in the hallway he realized he had forgotten his picture.

\--

He walked out of the courthouse feeling sour and moody. He walked through the streets and hissed threateningly at anyone who approached him. Lax from living with the Rulixe, he didn’t even attempt to see into their minds. His stance dropped and he hunched over, lowering himself closer to the dirt.

He walked through the rigid yet organically bent streets and eventually found his way to his apartment building. He walked in through living mesh and a Cognit at the door greeted him.  
“Good Day, Achilles. Did you do well with your presentation to the council?” He received a hiss in reply. “I take that as a no...” 

Enraged he turned back towards him. “I am sorry for my behavior.” He said as he reached for the little Cognits mind.  
“Quiet all right sir.” The Cognit replied as it shivered.  
“Are you feeling okay?” He asked sweetly, and watched as the Cognit started to shake violently.  
“Now that you ask sir.” But the Cognit stopped and broke out into pure pain-driven screams as acid bubbled in his eyes and scorched a trail down his face.

“Looks like someone can’t learn a lesson.” He said in a sickly sweet tone before mounting the stairs and heading towards his apartment.

\--

Frustrated, he cast a final glance around the mess hall and gave up on looking for the stupid picture. He hadn’t finished it anyways. He turned and headed back towards his room.

He walked in and found the lights already on and his picture sitting on his desk framed and luminescent. He reached down and picked it up. Little particle effects had been drawn over the rock, completing the photo and perfecting it. A piece of paper was slid in the corner of it.

“Even the most wounded can forge past their injuries. They achieve perfection through channels blocked by overcoming it another way. You are in possession of an iron will capable of greater tasks than this.”


	16. Death, Destruction

Chapter 16 - Death, destruction.

 

He looked down at the mines and sighed. He just couldn’t draw today. He shook his head and crumpled up yet another piece of paper. He tossed it out of the tower and watched it drift down towards the desolate lands below.

 

He heard a creak on the steps behind him and he turned around in time to see Dominic wince. “he-” He started to say but was cut off by a large explosion below them. The tower shook and the tower leaned to the side. 

 

He heard Dominic curse as they plummeted the path of the wad of paper. Around them disintegrated the tower and fiery bits of blocks. As the ground rose up to meet them he flushed with pain and they stopped while the ruins of the tower fell burning around him and Dominic.

 

Shaking from the exertion he began to lower Dominic to the ground. His mouth went dry and he heard the pounding of that surging river in his head. He gasped in pain as Dominic looked up at him in amazement. His vision grew dim as Dominic’s face twisted into horror and he felt warm liquid running down over his mouth. 

 

His tongue darted out and tasted it and his vision blurred as he realized it was blood. Dominic touched the ground and his body started to shake uncontrollably. He settled himself down and felt blood running down the sides of his nose.

 

Dominic started walking towards him. He grinned weakly at Dominic and said. “Not supposed to do that...” He saw Dominic running towards him as the ground rushed up and grasped him as he fell into the darkness.

 

\--

 

He walked down the stairs and entered the room with a triumphant air. He smirked as his eyes roamed the room and picked out the scorched tiles where the Doorman had stood, and died. “I was good, I helped him leave more of a mark here then he ever would have elsewhere.” He whispered to himself in satisfaction.

 

He walked through the dimly lit room and acknowledged the Replacement Cognit with a nod before walking out into the bright streets. His eyes picked out their gleaming shells first. He gnashed his teeth together and bared them in a gruesome imitation of a smile. 

 

He looked deep into each of their eyes. He reached out and tapped their rock hard minds and chuckled a deep skewed laugh. “Rulixe.” He said savoring the word i his mouth.

 

“Achilles, you are going out of control.” The middle one said. “We have to bring you in.”  
His toothy grin grew and he leaned forward. “I am Felic.” He said in a hushed whisper. “And I know your weaknesses.” He rose up suddenly and felt their defenses fall away.   
“Run and Die.” He told the two beside him. The middle one made to run with them. “Not you special one.” He leaned closer. “I have a special job for you.” The Rulixe shivered in fear. “I want you to go back to your Secret base and go to the ones that sent you after me. Then I want you to give them this message. ‘You arrogant Rulixe pushed your precious pawn to far and it Broke under your weight.’ 

 

“Then I want you to count backwards from ten and on five flood your ducts with acid.” The Rulixe nodded and scurried away hunched towards the ground.

 

He chuckled in delight as he heard screams coming from the directions that the other Rulixe had gone. He stepped out onto the road and walked towards the Council hall. They would hear him this time and they would accept his suggestion.

 

\--

 

He woke with the river subsiding from his ears and an amber light casting down over him. He shook his head and looked up at the sky, but saw fabric instead. “Dominic?” He called with a groan as he attempted to pull himself up.

 

The amber light shifted and grew brighter as a flap lifted and Dominic peered questioningly in. “Well, Don’t just stand there.” He said exasperatedly. “Help me out.”  
Dominic looked at him strangely.  
“Don’t you remember, You can’t walk...”

 

“What are you talking about?”  
“Verbatim-”  
“I can walk just fine.”  
“-To the last two times. Both times I helped you get out and your legs were worthless.” The amber light shifted again as the entire bag swung away and he found himself suspended in mid-air.

 

He felt the pull of gravity diminish as he rose into the air. The river smashed through his ears again and he cried out. He smashed down on a rough metallic surface and woozily pulled himself from the carryon.

 

He looked around and found that they were on a large machine treading over Bedrock. “I drew one of these, Where are we?” Dominic Shrugged,  
“Heck if I know. I think this thing is going in circles.”

 

He shook his head and climbed up into the cabin, “I see your legs are actually working.” Dominic said shaking his head. “There aren’t controls up there, its all automatic.”

 

He ignored Dominic and climbed into the cab. settled on a semi-comfortable bench and looked at the dashboard of it. He sighed as he realized that it used telepathic controls. He smacked himself as Dominic crawled in and sat beside him. “It is a better view, but alas no controls.”

 

Andrew ignored him and felt the river surge again as he reached out to the machine. His head pounded as he reached out and felt the enigmatic presence of the machine. His body twisted and he gave a gasp of pain.   
“Dude, Your Nose!” He faintly heard Dominic exclaim.

 

Presenting the shape and form of the ship he said. “Take us home,” He felt pain in his ears then warm liquid dropping down the side of his face. “Take us to the ship.” He gasped as he swayed from side to side. The pent up river exploded, washing clear of his mind rational thought and sense of awareness.

 

\--

 

He walked into the Council hall parlor and looked at the preoccupied Spokesman facing the wall. He straightened his form and walked towards the large double doors.  
“Achilles! You can’t go in there! They are Deliberating!” The Spokesman threw himself in front of the door. He looked at the Spokesman in disgust as he contemplated his choices.

 

“Cognit. Let me into this hall immediately, I am late for my appointment. Introduce me with apologies for keeping me.” The Spokesman shook his head.

 

“I apologize sir.” He turned, flung the doors open, and marched into the hall. “Presenting Achilles for his followup appointment. I kept him under false assumptions, I apologize for his lateness and accept full responsibility.” And with that the Spokesman turned and walked from the room.

 

“What mockery is this Achilles, Your motion was vehemently denied just yesterday. Why have you come and how have you convinced our Spokesman of such falsities?” 

 

“Nothing dear Council Member. I just had a second motion to be declared.” The council nodded and conferred.  
“Very well Achilles, we will reprimand our Spokesman for not informing us sooner. Now what is your motion?”

 

“I propose that as a low strike back at the Humans, You provide resources to capture and detain a Human Globe.” Most of the council nodded in agreement but two in the back stopped mid-nod.  
“Achilles, What are you talking about? The Humans are fastly becoming our allies! Why would we betray the growing trust between us?”  
“Because I told you to Rulixe.” The council looked at the two and sneered. Defenses down he cut into their minds and made them agree as well.

 

“Thank you for hearing me out.” He said before turning and walking from the hall.

 

\--

 

He opened his eyes and blearily peered through the cab. He saw Dominic sitting over against the cabin door. He turned his head and looked out the window in time to catch a glimpse of the large ship rising up over them.  
“Good, it worked.”

 

Darkness eased around his field of vision as he saw Dominic look over in surprise. “What are you?” He demanded to know. “You talked to this machine and told it to take us here.”

 

“Guess what? It actually brought us here. You on the other hand started gushing blood and passed out. I saw you fly onto the cab earlier after you fell out but I was sure I had been imagining it.” Dominic shook his head and stared at him. “You stopped us falling too didn’t you?”

 

He turned his head from Dominic’s ramblings and looked out the window. He made out a faint shape that he recognized as a Barge Drop plummeting towards them.  
“Ask the Pyritians.” He whispered as he turned back towards Dominic. “They know a lot more than I do.” He released his grasp and dissolved into darkness once more.


	17. Messages

Chapter 17 - Messages

 

He fell through the sky and gazed around peacefully. He smiled until he looked down and found himself rocketing towards the ground. He caught sight of a blot that quickly turned into a spider.

It looked up at him and held a rapier up above it. He screamed as he fell onto the sword, smashed into the spider, and tore through the ground as if it were made of fabric.

His eyes snapped open and a brilliant white room confronted him. He blinked and steps echoed through the room. He turned his head and found a Pyritian woman walking towards him. 

He stopped for a breath, then realized he had been screaming. The Pyritian stopped beside him and examined something behind him. He finished his breath and coughed a racking cough that shook his body and hurt his throat.

He felt his eyes grow wet and pulled up his hand to wipe them. He stopped as he felt a tug and saw that his arm was wired up to tubes that had blood pouring through them.

The Pyritian pushed his arm down, and looked him in the eyes. “Calm,” A soft voice said in his head. “You are safe.” As she placed he hands on his chest he realized that she hadn’t moved her lips either time. He felt a warmth spread through his body from his chest and fell into a dreamless sleep.

\--

He turned in his chair as faint footsteps echoed and a familiar presence drifted into his awareness. He gazed out the window and waited as the Rulixe entered the room.   
“Achilles, If you wanted to speak to me you could have asked instead of wrecking my office with your suicidees.”

He gazed out the window, not yet acknowledging the others presence. Then he waved with an appendage. “I felt that you needed more of a message. You ignored my first one and foolishly sent more after me.”

Nodding he directed his little surprises out into the open. “Cognit, Cognit, Cognit... Bowed under the weight of the Rulixe. Never to reach the summit. Cognit, Cognit, Cognit.” He sang softly as several bent and twisted Cognit pranced and danced into the open. “Headmaster? Was this not your plan?”

The Headmaster stared at the grotesquely mutilated creatures before him and shook his head. “You don’t know our plan. You couldn’t! It is beyond your comprehension.”

“Ah, wait. Darn, should’ve called your Trademark Rulixe arrogance before you went there.” He spun in his chair and faced the Headmaster. “Thats why you blew up the city. Thats why Cognit have been at war with the humans all this time. All I am doing is pushing it to the next level.”

The Headmaster shook his head. “We needed an independent Cognit race. Not one lying under the bones of the humans. We had nothing to do with Shiloh’s death! It was a tragic event!”   
“Tragic event! Is that why you took me afterwards and tortured me?” The Headmasters defenses came crashing down. “I was en route to Spawn when the barge overstepped its boundaries!” 

He ignored him and stood. “Goodbye Headmaster. I have a new movement to set in order.” He walked out of his office and caught a running Cognit by surprise.   
“The towers are finished.” He said.  
“Y-yes.” The Cognit stuttered, caught by surprise. “The globe is en route, and I have a brute waiting outside for you.” The Cognit said in an attempt to redeem himself.

He walked off following the Cognit as he heard the Headmaster scream in horror as the mutilated spiders cried their-selves to a final sleep.

\--

He opened his eyes again and found the Pyritian nurse standing above him.  
“Miss” He rasped, through a sore throat. Her melodic voice drifted through his head.  
“Do not speak,” She turned towards him. “I can hear you just fine.” Her lips didn’t move, but he refused to accept those implications.  
“How long have I been out?” He thought, Moving his lips to format the words.  
“This would have been the eighteenth day, and our estimation is about seven hours from that.”  
“Eighteen days? What about Dominic?”  
“Worried, asked a lot of questions...”  
“Asked?”  
“We had to put him back to work.” He closed his eyes and leaned back in the bed.  
“Did you answer his questions?”  
“We weren't going to do so without your conscious confirmation.”  
“I give that confirmation. Please tell him.”  
“What happened... Before?”  
“The specialists are amazed, your mind broke again.”  
“That's n- It Broke again?” He looked at the Pyritian. She nodded,   
“It has realigned several vessel in your brain. Now it has a viable pathway through your mind.”  
“I will be able to use it again?” He asked incredulously. She nodded and walked over and picked something up from a table he hadn’t noticed before. She turned and walked back towards him with a tray covered in a strange white substance.

“Your telepathy is derived from a genetic modification while ours is a mutation, yours is times stronger than a Pyritians would be able to reach. You accident proved that.” She explained as she rested the tray on his legs and eased his torso into the air.

She let go of him and he was surprised to find that he was still being held. He looked questioningly at her.   
“This is the limit of our most powerful minds.” She motioned towards the tray. “Imagine the shape of an object. Any object.”  
He looked warily at her then shut his eyes and thought.

His mind focused on an abstract shape, modeling a large orb exquisitely covered in inscriptions and diagrams. A small gasp made him lose concentration. He blinked and looked at the Pyritian.  
“You are doing good,” She said with new-found interest in her eyes. “Focus on something you know a bit better. Try to maintain the image then open your eyes. Okay?”

He nodded and thought of his ship. He drew it from his plans and combined the multiple profiles of it. He followed the scales all affixed in his mind and smoothed out the image.

Finally he creased the last bit of the outer section and solidified it in his mind. He cracked his mind and shook his head, It was colorless. He changed the edges slightly and tinted the ship a luminescent bronze. 

Satisfied, he looked at the Pyritian. She looked at him for a moment with unbelieving eyes. Then he looked back upon his creation and put its inner workings into actions. It rose from the table and churning rumbled in its gut as it puttered away and rode the air currents round the room.

Dawning realization hit him when the ship floated behind the Pyritian. He shook his head. “What?” Then his ship shuddered violently and fell to the ground, a mass of white featureless goop.

“what is that?” He asked incredulously.   
“Condensed Void particles, bound together after the fashion of most of the things in our universe.” She continued. “It is also lighter than anything even when amassed into rigid constructs.”

She held out her hand to the goop and it floated from the table. Quickly, it coalesced around her hand and shaped a sleek gauntlet. She flexed her fingers for a moment before flicking and it returning to the board.  
“Wow, That could be very useful.” He said, as he watched the goop rest on the table.  
“Even human have a slight control over this concentrated mass. Not enough to form an object, but definitely to break one.” He finally broke his gaze from the goop and looked back at the Pyritian.  
“What happened to the ship? At least the base of the tower exploded.” Imagining the force it would've took he looked back at the goop and found it replicating his thoughts. He called up the many blueprints he had seen for this ship and solidified the new construct.

Then he reenacted the explosion, “Some sort of artillery burst.” He said watching as the construct mimicked his fall. “You guys were lucky. If the blast was anywhere else then the whole ship would have gone down.”

“Minds sharper than mine are investigating the cause of the explosion. But in truth, You should be grateful. Without it, you would be less than a normal human. Now you are for more than anything else.”

\--

The brute stumbled and crashed to its knees under Achilles. He looked up in thinly veiled irritation, the tower they were headed towards was still several hundred blocks away. The Cognit ahead of him beat on the brute with a rod, He yelled over at the fool to stop. 

He dropped down into rest position and placed two of his appendages on the shell. Instantly he was flooded with pain and pure hatred. After a second it faded and recognition surrounded him.   
“Sky Child. You survived the Cognit.” The age-old voice whispered through his head. He nodded, Conscious of the Cognit staring unabashedly at him.  
“Yes, It seems you have not fared so well.” The Brutes mind twisted at this,  
“I fight for my freedom, Now I will receive my reward and my body will soon return to the earth.”  
“I can release you,” He offered as he sensed pain welling up inside the Brute.  
“Release me? Even you Sky Child could not have obtained that much power.” He sighed.  
“But I have.” He turned through the Brutes vast mind and touched through its myriad of memories. He re-engaged the muscles and the Brute stood. Then a low bellow resounded from it as he released its energy and its mind went blank.

The body of the brute stayed on its feet and carried them the last several hundred blocks. He couldn’t help but feel that now he was truly alone.

The Base of the broad stone tower finally came into view as they forced their way through the ever-present fog. It elongated and shot up towards the clouds before splitting to form an open circle.

Wrapping around it was a wooden platform that ascended Parallel. The Brute’s body shuddered as they neared the tower and crashed to the ground. He held on tight but the Cognit driving it went flying off and smashed onto the ground. 

He climbed down from the empty shell and strode towards the tower as a group of medics ran to take care of the broken Cognit and deceased Brute. He stood and let the cool sun. He mounted the wooden pathway and began walking.

A Cognit approached him around halfway up. “Liege Achilles,” It said, dictating his newest Honorific. “We have completed the six sets of these towers, and the globe is currently en route to be caught by this tower.”  
“Just as I commanded?” He Queried.  
“Yes my Liege, To the letter.”

They approached the top of the stairs and He felt a slight breeze as they crested the top. “How long till interception?”  
“Minutes Liege.”  
“Minutes?” The Cognit nodded and pointed off to the side.

He turned and was partially blinded by the light lancing off the metallic egg that was gliding towards them through the air. From the bottom up the globe was cradled by a metallic shell that creased off at the top to let light into the cultured living areas.  
“Brace yourselves!” A voice cried out from higher above them. They latched onto some sturdy railings as the globe smashed into the tower. 

The tower rocked and shook as the globe tried to break free of its newfound barrier. Then Loud metallic screeching echoed as it pushed itself further through the gap. He looked up with a chuckle and watched as Cognit rained down on the unprotected globe from above.

\--

“Andrew?” He felt a hand on his shoulder and he dredged himself from the pleasant darkness of sleep. He slowly cracked his eyes and looked out into the white hospital room. “Andrew.” The hand shook his shoulder and he wearily looked over. 

A pair of green eyes stared worryingly from behind a wreath of Dirty blonde hair. He moved to speak but felt a bubble surface his lips with the effort he was putting in. He looked around and bit his lip frustratedly. 

The Pyritian Nurse wasn't there, but he saw the tray of void particles. He focused and the particles floated into the air. The rushing resounded in his head but he ignored it as he drew the particles across the room.

He formed it into a dark board then super-imposed another set of material on it to create the words. He looked back over to find Dominic talking. “-They said you might not be able to talk and for me to not try to make you.” He turned and looked back at the board.

“I am alright.” It broadcasted. But Dominic kept babbling. Getting irritated, he streamed a small bit of void particles out and tapped Dominic on the shoulder. Dominic jumped and turned around. He looked at the board and then back at Him.  
“This is you?” He nodded, and motioned back towards the board.  
“If I remembered how to make vocal circuits then I would use those.” He broadcasted.  
“Vocal Circuits?”  
“Nevermind. Have the Pyritians told you anything?”  
“Uh... They told me something about you being Spider-Kissed.”  
“True, Did they tell you anything else?”  
“They said that our little adventure nearly killed you, but you were ‘Fixed’ Now...”  
“I Caught us, Talked to the machine and can control things up with my mind.”

\--

He descended a long white staircase, made from long strands of string. Around him were clustered a group of elite Rulixe guards bearing long swords that glowed with a dark luster. He refused to trust the Cognit with his life. 

He looked down and a fragment of memory crashed through his mind as he saw a firefight going on between the Cognit and the Humans. The Cognit were advancing but the fragment smashed through.

Two Felic stumbling from broken Iron doors. “They are locked in.” One of them said with a hacking cough. He looked around him and saw the area covered in blood, fire, and corpses.

He spun and looked at a Rulixe beside him. “They have a seal-able control system capable of wireless transmissions and controlling this globe! It is imperative we get in and stop them from sealing it off before they do it themselves.”

The Elite Turned and jumped from the stairway. He fell for a short distance before casting a web and floating towards the battle. He turned back towards his guards. “We need to hurry.” They rushed down the staircase down towards the land.

They Dropped down through a tunnel and scurried past a vast array of engineworks. Finally they confronted a smaller tunnel leading into the wall.   
“Through here” He said, Cutting forward in front of the Rulixe.

\--

The Pyritian nurse burst through the door. “Dominic.” She said, voice crisp yet melodic. Almost a perfect match to the voice he had heard in his head. “You are needed.”

She walked forward and glared at him as Dominic walked behind her and out the door. She grabbed the board out of the air and affixed him with a death stare as it folded into featureless colorless goop in her hands.

“Play later.” She said as walked forward and shook the goop from her hands. She reached out and placed her hands on his chest and he fell into the darkness once more.

\--

He burst out the end of the tunnel and found himself in a well lit room covered in webbing. A plaque lay before him. “This is where the inhabitants of Globe #13 Repelled an invasion by Spider forces.” He shook as he saw bodies strewn across the floor.

Nailed to the far wall were several bodies speared with a diamond blade. He turned towards the Rulixe. “We are going to make them suffer. We will make them watch themselves die off one by one until there are none left!”


End file.
